


The Journeys of Lan

by crack976



Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-16
Updated: 2015-06-24
Packaged: 2018-04-04 16:18:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 177,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4144356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crack976/pseuds/crack976
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Years before team RWBY met in the halls of Beacon, a boy name Lan wandered the world of Remnant.  This is the story of his growth, as he travelled through the world with one of the greatest warriors who ever lived, his Grandfather Byakko Muteki. </p><p>Apparently I started out as someone who had the power to change the world, but after that night, everything was taken from me.  My family, my friends, and my destiny all disappeared right in front of my eyes.  Right now I’m wandering the world with my grandpa, where this path will lead, I do not know.  But maybe along the way I can find out what to do with my life, as well as the mystery of those four lights that haunt my Dreams.-Lan</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Always open to suggestions on how to improve the story

Chapter 1: A new beginning in a town of ends

We all know the story of the 4 girls Ruby, Weiss, Yang, and Blake. But here we will be spinning a different tale, about a boy by the name of Lan and his travels through the world with his grandfather.

Our story begins 15 years before the events of RWBY in a place far far away from any of the four kingdoms.

It was a perfect day, the sky was clear and the ocean breeze was refreshing. Byakko Muteki walked down the beach with the ocean at his left and a forest at his right, enjoying the nice day after a successful hunt. He had caught a large deer; a truck sized-boar; and a man-sized tuna. All of them were slung over his back as he walked. Byakko was a tall, very muscular, wild looking old man with long spiky white hair with black streaks in it and an equally long and spiky chin curtain beard. He was wearing casual martial arts clothing with the sleeves ripped off, baggy black pants, and no shoes. His body was covered in many scars from the many battles he had fought in the past, the most noticeable being one that ran from his right eye to his chin. His most striking features however were a pair of white and black tiger ears and a long tail trailing out from a whole in his pants, marking him as a white tiger Faunus. He was also very hairy, with white fluff poking out of his clothes wherever it could. He was daydreaming, drooling as he thought of the food the people back at the village could make with the animals he was bringing. As he walked along he also was singing a song about an old man named Harold who had hemorrhoids.

“Oh whenever he sat on chair! His friends were in for a scare! As he’d leap right off the stool! And go take a dump in the-“

He stopped suddenly, craning his ears. He heard shallow breathing nearby; he didn’t sense any bloodlust so it couldn’t be a Grimm. Gazing around the beach he spotted a young boy wrapped in a brown cloth. Looking around, he didn’t see anything that could hint that the child’s family was nearby. He then walked over to the child and picked him up with one hand.

“Hey kid” he barked out “you still alive?” 

The child stirred, slowly opening his eyes and stared at the man in front of him. Examining the boy Byakko noted that he had messy black hair with azure highlights around the edge, and black eyes. 

“Well kid you gonna say anything”, he barked out. 

Both silently stared at each other, a serious look on both their faces.  
Then all of a sudden “Frrrrrrppp”, both the young boy and the old man let loose a simultaneous flatulation. After which the young boys face instantly relaxed. 

A moment of silence passed, and then Byakko burst into a fit of laughter, his body shuddering with the force of it. 

“Bahahahahaha, kid that was perfect harmony right there!” he said with a big grin on his face, “It must have been fate that we met here today! How else could we have achieved such perfect synchronization?” he said exuberance “I’ve decided. Be you abandoned by your parents or left alive while they were killed, I will raise you as my grandson. What do you say?”

Byakko pulled the boy close until their faces were only a few inches apart. The boy looked up at the Byakko’s exuberant face and gigged slightly. 

“Okay mister, but… do you mind telling me who I am?” said the boy in a calm voice. 

“Oh, amnesia huh?” Byakko said with a chuckle, “I have no idea who you are, except that you’re my grandson now, but I guess you’ll need a new name now. I’ll call you…” Byakko paused, thinking, opening his mouth then closing it again.

“You know what? I’ll wait till I take you back to the village; I’m sure someone there can pop out a good name.” With that Byakko slung the boy over his other shoulder and marched away toward the village. All the while talking about what was there and what would be the boy’s new life.  
.  
.  
.  
“You’re going to love it there” Byakko said for the twentieth time “we’ve got great food, lots of stuff to do, and plenty of places for us to train”. 

Byakko, obviously a combat specialist, wanted to train the boy to be a warrior just like him, and had already begun planning a grueling training regime. 

“What am I going to train to fight mister?” the boy said curiously. 

“Why the Grimm of course!”, Byakko boomed “along with any other scum we meet, and stop calling me mister! From now on you’re supposed to call me grandpa!” 

“Okay grandpa” the boy said giggling “When are we going to get to the town?”

They had been walking (Lan still slung over Byakko’s back) for around 15 minutes along the beach and had not yet reached the town. 

“It’s just over that hill over there” Byakko, said pointing at a sharp incline around a mile away, “just a little bit longer”. As they neared the hill, they began to hear crashing and roaring, along with the crackle of energy. 

“Grimm” Byakko said his smile widening “and a whole bunch of them too. You’re in for a treat little buddy”, he said cracking his knuckles “time for your grandpa to show his stuff.” 

With that Byakko, bent his knees and dashed towards the hill. In a split second they were atop the it, coming to a halt with a loud slamming noise. Lan looked back and saw a huge column of sand rising into the air where they had just been. Before them was a settlement surrounded by a large dust-field, and at one side were a large group of Grimm, attacking the field and trying to break in. They consisted of 10 beowolves, 6 ursa, 8 boarbatusks, 3 king taijitu, and a large deathstalker. Upon seeing them Byakko’s smile fell. 

“That’s it?” he said with a huff “This won’t even be a warm up.” Sighing, he dropped the animals he had hunted and the boy onto the ground. “Sorry kid, it’s not going to be much of a show.” 

Suddenly a squeaking sound split the air from an intercom and an old man’s voice, with an Irish accent, came on.

 

“Byakko you lazy old cat, get rid of those Grimm already!” 

“Alright, alright!” Byakko yelled back, shaking his fist “Geez, be a little patient will ya?” 

Bringing his fingers to his lips Byakko whistled. The sound was has as louder and as high pitched as the intercom and forced the boy to cover his ears. The Grimm near the barrier paused then turned to look at him. 

“Come on” Byakko said, beckoning them with his hand “get over here already so I can kick your asses.”

The creature roared and charged at their new quarry, the beowolves taking the lead. Byakko calmly stood there, cleaning his ears and looking slightly bored as the creatures neared him. The first beowolf quickly got within striking distance and leapt at Byakko, its claws pointed at his throat. With a movement faster than lightning, Byakko launched his fist and stuck the Beowolf square in the stomach. The force of the impact pulverized the beast’s abdomen, leaving a gaping hole in its wake, but it didn’t stop there. The force of the punch shot forward, the area of the blow widening, and crashed into the group of Grimm, smashing right through them with tremendous force. The Grimm at the center of the formation disappeared as the punch blasted through the formation and flew into the forest. Those that remained after taking the blow were missing limbs or dazed; in fact all that was left of many of them were just a few limbs. Far off in the forest an explosion erupted where the force of the punch finally stopped its advance, sending up a dust cloud a few miles high. All the boarbatsuks were now gone, the 3 remaining Ursa were fine, each of the 2 remaining beowolves had a limb missing, the remaining king taijitu had a head missing, and the deathstalker was missing a pincer. The entire group of Grimm had been dazed by the attack the boy gaped at the destruction his new grandfather had wrought with a single blow.  
“How did he get so strong?” the boy wondered, his eyes wide and his mouth agape.

“Come on!” Byakko said clapping his hands together “You guys can do better than that.”

In a split second he vanished from the place he was standing with a crunching sound and reappeared right behind the king taijitu. Grabbing its tail, he lifted it up and began spinning it around like a flail. Then, flicking his wrist down in a nonchalant manner, threw it at one of the ursa. Still dazed from Byakko’s previous attack, it never knew what hit it. The Taijitu slammed into the ursa face first, crushing both the ursa and the Taijitu’s skull.

Once again moving at mind boggling speeds, Byakko appeared behind the last 2 ursa, who were staring at their dead companion, and dropped his hand across their backs.

“Aw, do the little teddy bears need a hug?” he said with a mischievous grin. 

Byakko stood at about the same height as the Ursa, the scene looking like 3 long-time friends. The Ursa looked back at him and then quickly turned, trying to catch him with their claws. Tightening his grip, Byakko slammed the two ursa together as soon as they faced each other, crushing them like eggs. 

“In that case you two can hug each other as much as you want” he boomed. 

He then turned and looked at the remaining Grimm. The two beowolves had recovered at this point and were charging at him. The deathstalker was also now scuttling in his direction. Laughing, Byakko dove forward and caught both the beowolves in a double lariat, then holding them both in a headlock, turned to look and the deathstalker. 

“Time for a little target practice” he said eyeing the deathstalker’s stinger. 

Carefully taking aim, Byakko passed one of the beowolves from his armpit to his hand, the beast’s struggling completely ineffectual, and then threw the beast at the deathstalker. The Beowolf flew through the air like an arrow until it finally was impaled on the Deathstalker’s stinger. The other Beowolf soon followed suit and found its place on top of its brethren. 

“I win” Byakko exclaimed “where’s my prize?” 

The deathstalker hissed and charged at Byakko, trying to catch him in its one good pincer. 

“Shake” Byakko yelled, shooting out his hand and grabbing the pincer. The deathstalker struggled to pull it free, but wasn’t able to budge it an inch. 

“Good boy” Byakko said with a grin. 

The death stalker’s stinger shot down and struck Byakko in the chest. The attack didn’t even bring out a response from the old man who just stood there smiling. He then grabbed the stinger with his other hand. 

“Here’s your treat!” Byakko yelled, and smashed the stinger right through the deathstalker’s head. He then released his grip and let the dead Grimm’s body fall to the ground.

“Wow grandpa!” the boy said “that was awesome!”

“Not really” Byakko said, his nose pointed high in the air “I could have shown many more amazing things if there were more of the things. In fact I was hoping there would be an army of the things by the time a got back here, so I left a little bait outside and spent an extra-long time hunting.” 

“You what?” the same old man’s voice that had come from the intercom boomed from behind them. 

They whipped round and saw the man standing at the town’s gate, the force field now down. He was a decrepit old geezer with short white hair and a clean shaven face. He was wearing a red sweater and brown pants, and was carrying a cane in his hands. 

“Do you know how much dust we had to use to keep those things out while waited for you” he wheezed, waiving his cane “and why didn’t you just finish them quickly instead of doing all that nonsense?” 

“Well where’s the fun in that?” Byakko exclaimed. 

“Everybody in here has their own flippin responsibilities, and you’ve got the simplest one.” said the old man, fuming “Go out every once in a while to get fresh meat, and keep the village safe when your back. If you keep shirking your responsibilities then we’re cutting your part of Anna’s cooking!” 

“Yeah, Yeah” Byakko said waiving his hand “you’ve said that a million times, Gregory, and you know what? I’ve never had my ration taken because I’m the powerhouse of this village. Where would you all be without these babies keeping the Grimm away?” he said, flexing his arms and posing. 

“Why I oughta-“Gregory paused, and then stared at the boy hiding behind one of Byakko’s large legs. 

“Say, Byakko, who’s the kid?” 

“Oh him” Byakko chuckled “He is my new grandson. I found him on the beach and now I plan on raising him as my grandson!” 

“You can’t just make a random kid you found your grandson!” Gregory yelled. 

“Well I just did!” Byakko said patting the boy on the head. “Come on kid, let’s go get something to eat” with that he picked the boy up and dashed towards the town. 

“Get back hear” they heard Gregory yelling in the distance “I haven’t finished with you yet”.

They passed through the town gate and the boy got his first good look at the town. There were many different small houses with a variety of designs that looked like they came from all over the world, and everywhere he looked there were old people standing around. As they passed under the town’s sign the boy looked up at it and read “Welcome to Longa Cinere, the town where journeys end”.  
.  
.  
.  
“So there are only old people in this town” the boy asked through a mouthful of Shepard’s pie. 

“Yep” Byakko said finishing his 10th plate of venison. “This town has gathered old ladies and geezers from all over the world who just want to live a quiet life now that their tale is coming to an end. None of them have any family or friends outside of this town and all of them are masters of some kind of skill, Anna for example” he said pointing at an elderly women, working in the kitchen “Is a master chef, with unrivaled skill!”

The town was a small village far from any of the kingdoms of Vytal. It was a small village, surrounded on two sides by sea, one side by the forest, and the last by the beach. The town was built in a way that the buildings spiraled out from the center of the village, where the forced field generator was located, with Byakko’s home close to it. The buildings had a variety of designs due to the diverse population that lived there. It was founded many years ago by a man who wanted to leave the rest of civilization behind, after losing everything that meant anything to him. He had brought along others that felt the same way, and every once in a while someone would leave then come back later with more like-minded individuals in tow. The town wasn’t completely cut off from the rest of the world though, they needed to purchase dust every once in a while to keep the force field generators up and running, update their libraries every once in a while, and stay knowledgeable of the world affairs which still interested some of the villagers. They accomplished this through the use of a caravan that they sent out once in a while. 

Everyone in the village contributed something to the town, either with skill, knowledge, or good old physical labor. It was a quiet community where most of the villagers merely awaited their ends, almost like a retirement town.

Byakko and the boy were currently eating in Anna’s home, which was also one of the main restaurants in the village. Anna was a small old woman with gray hair wrapped into a bun. She was wearing a dark green dress and a messy apron; she was also one of the top chefs in village, and at one point in her life she had owned a 5-star restaurant. 

When Byakko had first burst into the place he explained Lan’s presence to her and, albeit skeptically, she accepted his decision. She had quickly warmed up to the boy though.

“Hey grandpa” the boy asked “Does that mean you don’t have any friends outside this village?” Byakko burst out laughing, then patted the boy on the head. 

“No, I’ve got plenty of friends still alive and kicking in this world, I’m just staying here right now to protect this place. After all I’ve got to do something in return for all the meals I’ve eaten.”

He then motioned to the monumental pile of dishes piled next to him to emphasize his point. 

“It’s not like I’m going to spend my life here though, I’ll leave as soon as they don’t need me anymore, and since I’ve got at least a hundred years left in me” Byakko said, flexing his right arm “I might as well spend a little of my long life helping them out.” 

The boy had a feeling his grandpa’s logic was quite unsound, but not having a counterargument, he decided to leave the conversation at that. 

“Right after we finish eating, let’s start discussing training” Byakko said through a mouthful of spinach and tuna stir-fry “My grandson isn’t going to be called a weakling, so we’re gonna buckle down hard. I’m going to make sure every inch of you becomes strong, from the tip of your head to the bottom of your foot and even up the shaft of your—!“ 

With a clanging sound Anna hit Byakko over the head with a frying pan. 

“What vulgar language were you about to use in the presence of this young boy?” she said sternly. 

“Ow!” Byakko said rubbing the back of his bruised cranium “take it easy old lady. We’re just discussing his training regime, and I really do mean to make sure he gets a big—“ 

“Clang” the frying pan once again made contact with Byakko’s skull. 

“Alright, Alright already” Byakko said holding up his hands to defend against the blows “I’ll drop the subject!” 

With that Anna nodded and turned to the young boy. 

“How is the food dear?” she said smiling 

“It’s really good, thank you grandma” the boy said, still digging in “Do you think you could teach me to make food like this?” 

“Why not?” Anna said chuckling, “but, we’ll have to do it when you’re not training with your grandpa here.” 

“Yeah” Byakko said as he downed a large flagon of cider “You can learn from her at night after training, but to make up for the extra time” he said with a mischievous grin “I’ll have to make the training a little tougher.” 

“Okay” the boy said pumping his fist in the air, not understanding the hidden meaning behind his Grandpa’s voice, “let’s do it.” 

Suddenly the front door burst open and many old people streamed into the room. 

“There really is a little boy here” someone said through the din, “Aw what a cute little one”. 

The boy looked around at all the old people that had streamed in. They were wearing many different types of clothing, most likely from many different cultures, and were all crowding around him asking him questions, many of which he couldn’t answer.

“Say boy”, said an old man in an engineer’s getup “What’s your name, mine’s Rowan!”

The man appeared to be in his early sixties, had short spiky white hair, and was wearing a white t-shirt, baggy pants with many pockets, thick gloves, and had a pair of goggles on his forehead. He also appeared to be smeared all over his body with a variety of oils.

“I don’t know” the boy said with a shrug “Grandpa said he’d think of one when we got back to the village.” 

“You haven’t given him a name yet?” an old women from the crowd yelled “What kind of Grandpa are you?” 

“Hey” Byakko said, starting his desert “I thought I’d give everyone in the village a hand in picking the boy a name, seeing as we’re all going to be raising him.” 

“Why are you pushing responsibility on us?” a man from the crowd cried. 

Byakko turned to him with a raised eyebrow 

“You really trust me to properly bring up a kid all by myself?” 

The old man opened his mouth, closed it then thought for a second. 

“You got a point there Byakko” he said submissively “Leave him with you and he’ll probably be eaten within the week.”

This comment was followed by a barrage of laughter from the crowd.

“I’m going to have lots of grandparents?” the boy said with a huge smile “Yahoo!” he cried, jumping up onto the table, but was quickly put back in his seat by Anna. 

“Well” said an old man wearing a yukata “We’d better give him a name first, how about…” 

He paused and sniffed the air. 

“Byakko!” he yelled “When was the last time you took a shower!” 

All the other people in the room began sniffing the air, many of them wrinkling their noses in disgust. 

“Why the heck are you saying I’m the source of the smell?” Byakko yelled. 

“Because you’re the only one in the village who doesn’t bathe every day, get to the bath house and wash yourself off!” the man in the yukata yelled back. 

“That’s cause I don’t need to bath too often” Byakko said lifting his arm up and taking a big whiff of his pits “See, lemony fresh, what do you say to that Hiroshi?” 

All the towns people in the room were staring at something next to Byakko, Hiroshi had his arms folded and had a look of smug satisfaction on his face. Byakko turned and saw that the plant next to his exposed and sweaty pits, that was strong and healthy just a few seconds ago, had now wilted from the stench. 

“Fine” Byakko grumbled, getting up, “I’ll go take the damn bath.” 

And with that he stomped out of the house, and headed up the road to one of the bathhouses. 

“Alright then” Hiroshi said clapping his hands together “back to business. What were we discussing again?” 

“I think we were going to discuss how to raise him” said a well-groomed man with a long mustache “The boy needs to be educated while he’s living here, can’t have him going out into the world without any knowledge.” 

“I could teach him engineering” Rowan yelled, 

“And I could teach him musical skills” shouted another old man, 

“And there’s also that library” an old women yelled out “he could learn a lot there! After all, we’ve gathered books from all over the world there.” 

All of the people in the room had lost the ones close to them a long time ago, and never had the chance to raise a child, and when they began discussing what they would teach the boy, all of them felt a glimmer in their hearts, something they all believed they had lost a long time ago. This discussion continued for over an hour, and at the end they compiled a long list of what they wanted to teach the boy, and at what times. 

“Alright, everyone” Anna said smiling “it’s time to discuss a name for the child. How about...” 

“Hold it right there” Byakko, burst through the front door and stood there smiling “I knew you were going to start that without me. It’s a good thing my instincts told me to come back here quickly.” 

All the people in the room turned to look at Byakko, who stood there dripping water and was wearing nothing but a bath towel wrapped around his waist. 

“Oh, put some pants on” a women yelled from the crowd. Ignoring the comment Byakko sat down on a chair 

“First of all he has to train everyday with me, right boy?” he said pointing at the boy. 

“Yeah!” the boy said with a big smile. 

“Hurry up and mark that down then” Byakko said waiving his hands. 

The changes were made to the schedule, although many grumbled about giving so much time with the boy to Byakko. Most of them, however, recognized the value of being able to protect yourself in a world full of Grimm though, so they acquiesced to Byakko’s demands.

“Alright then” Byakko said smiling “time to discuss the name”. Byakko opened his mouth, and then paused, staring at the clock. It was around 10’o clock now, far too late for a young child to be staying up.

“Say, why don’t we get the boy to bed? It’s getting pretty late and I don’t think he wants to be part of this crazy debate” he said.

“I’m not tired!” the boy said jumping up “I want to be part of this too!” 

Anna smiled then picked the child up in her arms, him struggling and trying to be put back down. 

“Now, now young one, it’s not good to sleep too late. Come on I’ll take you to your room and read you a bedtime story.” She said with a smile. The boy stopped struggling.

“What kind of story?” he inquired. 

“A wonderful fairy tale full of charm” Anna answered. 

She then brought him out of her home and walked up the road towards the where the boy would be staying. It was the safest place in the village, Byakko’s home. As she held him in her arms, she felt warmth spreading in her breast, the same warmth that everyone else in the town was feeling; it was glow of familial love. The warmth that one can only experience from nurturing one so young. Just a few hours ago almost all of them were just living every day in a daze, slowly waiting for the flame of their lives to die, only living on to be helpful to one another. But now they had a new reason to continue living, a hope in the future manifested in the beating heart of this young boy. They would raise him to be a strong, kind, and intelligent young man, one who could accomplish things they had only dreamed of. 

They had now arrived at Byakko’s home at the center of the village, it was a worn down, yet cozy place that Byakko had slapped together when he had first arrived at the village. It had been placed near the generator because “you’ll have your two best lines of defense in one place”. It was two stories tall, had a kitchen, a family room, a storage room on the first floor, and 2 bathrooms, and 2 bedrooms on the second floor. 

Anna walked inside, and then headed up the stairs to the unoccupied bedroom. Inside there was a simple bed, a nightstand, and a chair. Tucking the boy into the bed, Anna pulled a book from inside her dress and lit a candle. The boy stared at her expectantly, wondering what kind of fable would be spun here tonight. The story was a special one, about a man and his dragon on a mission to save the world. Anna recounted the tale with great vigor, personifying each event with the perfect voice. The boy listened with wide eyes, his mind filling with magic and adventure. 

After half an hour, they boy was starting to nod off. Anna closed the book, and then gave the boy a quick peck on the cheek.

“Sweet dreams dear.” She said with a smile. At that moment a booming sound came from downstairs as the door was opened, and within moments Byakko had entered the room. 

“We’ve finally decided on the name” he said with a smile “there was a huge argument, and I think someone got hit with shovel, but we got through it ok.” 

“Well then, please tell me the name you all decided on.” Anna said her eyes gleaming. 

Byakko leaned in close and whispered into her ear. She smiled then turned back to the boy. 

“What’s my name?” the boy said sleepily, feeling the last slivers of his consciousness slipping. 

“Lan” Anna said warmly “your name is Lan”, and that was the last thing Lan remembered before falling into a deep sleep, his mind whisked away to the depths of dreamland.


	2. Chapter 2

Ch 2 The Daily things 

Lan lay asleep on the bed, his dreams filled with magic and adventure. It was early morning now, the sun beams trickling through the open window, and birdsong filling the room. His consciousness was just beginning to surface at this point, slowly being drawn out by the promise of a new day. Something was wrong though. There was something amiss in the room right now, but his consciousness wasn’t alert enough to tell what it was. The strange feeling slowly roused his from his slumber, enough to awaken some of his senses. He suddenly became aware of a burning smell, along with a swishing sound. Opening his eyes, he turned his head and stared towards the center of the room and sitting there was Byakko, who was fanning a large fish that was roasting over a portable wood fire stove. 

“Good morning sleepy head!” Byakko said with a smile “bout time you woke up, it’s almost breakfast time!” 

“Why are you roasting a fish in my room?” Lan inquired. 

“Because I felt like it” Byakko responded nonchalantly, “Hurry up and head to the bathroom and brush your teeth, we’ll be having breakfast soon” he then paused and looked up at Lan curiously “You do remember how to brush teeth, right?” 

After taking a few moments to get over the strangeness of the situation, Lan began thinking a little bit and realized he did know how. 

“Looks like the amnesia isn’t too bad” Lan thought while stretching. He then hopped out of bed and ran down the hall to the nearest restroom. 

After finishing up in the bathroom (with a shower, toilet use, and then tooth brushing), Lan put on some new clothes Anna had left for him and then examined himself in the mirror. He had messy black hair with blue highlights, medium black eyes, was quite lean, and would probably be considered the cute little boy type. He was currently wearing a loose fitting brown jacket with a white trim, a pair of black shorts, and was barefoot (Byakko was against shoes, because he believed that shoes weaken feet). After confirming his appearance he walked back to his bedroom to have breakfast. When he entered the room Byakko was sitting there waiting for him… holding the bones of the tuna fish. 

“Hey!” Lan said, slightly miffed, “I thought you said we were going to have breakfast?” 

“Yep” Byakko said, munching down the fish bones “We’ll be eating at Anna’s, I was just having a little appetizer while I was waiting for you to get ready.” With that he got up, walked out of the room, and headed for the front door, Lan following close behind him. 

“Ah, what a perfect day!” said Byakko once they were outside, and it truly was. The morning air was crisp and clear, the sun was shining with and only a few clouds were passing by here and there. They walked down from the house, and headed towards Anna’s restaurant, greeting anybody they happened to come across. Once they arrived at Anna’s home, a small brick building with a restaurant sign hanging from the door, they found Anna was already waiting for them. 

“About time you two arrived” she said smiling, “I’ve prepared a buffet for the two of you!” 

Inside they found that one of the tables was strewn with delicacies of all sorts. It included roasted meats, assorted eggs, a variety of different baked goods, and a menagerie of juices. Lan and Byakko plopped down on the table and began digging into the meal, Lan eating at the normal rate a young boy would and Byakko finishing multiple plates in a matter of seconds. While they were eating they began to discuss their schedule for today, and all the normal days in a year.

“First thing in the morning” Byakko said through a mouthful of eggs “is training with me, we’ll probably do around four hours worth, maybe more depending on the situation that day, and then you will go receive lessons from the other villagers. Who will be teaching you that day, and what exactly you’ll be learning I have no idea. I’ll be gone during that time to go hunting, someone’s got to keep this village’s meat supply properly stocked!”

“Aren’t you the one that eats the most of it” Anna said, chuckling to herself. 

“Hey, I’m just taking my honest share” Byakko said with mock hurt. 

After a few more minutes Lan and Byakko had finished their meal and were getting ready to leave.

“Alright Lan!” Byakko said stretching “We’ll be training outside the village in the forest. Before you woke up this morning I went out and cleared out all the Grimm within a 100 mile radius, so you should be pretty safe.” 

“What about the village?” Lan asked, looking up “Don’t you need to protect them?” 

“Don’t worry” Byakko responded “they have one of the best dust force fields in existence, and if things become complicated they can fire one of the signal flares, which will send us running back.”   
Satisfied with the response Lan got up and headed for the door.   
“Wait one moment Lan” Anna yelled, she pulled out a small lunch box and handed it to him. “Here’s a little something in case you get hungry, our little warrior must keep up his strength if he is going to train well” she said, pinching his cheeks.   
Lan thanked her, then followed Byakko out of her home, then they headed out of the village, and walked into the forest.

After walking for around 15 minutes they arrived at a clearing. 

“Alright boy” Byakko said folding his arms “We’ll start with strengthening your body, then after you’ve built up a good foundation, I’ll start teaching you fighting techniques.” 

“I’m ready!” Lan shouted, with a determined look on his face. 

“Alright then” Byakko said with a smile “we’ll start with something simple since it’s your first day training. Let’s see, what should I have you do? hmmmm.” 

Byakko pondered for a few moments and then turned back to Lan. 

“Give me 100 push-ups, 100 squats, and 100 sit-ups, after that we’ll do some stretching exercises and a 10km run”. 

“Okay” Lan shouted, not realizing the magnitude of his training regime. He then dropped down and began his pushups, and after completing 30 he paused to rest. 

“upupupup” Byakko tutted “I never said you could rest, between reps, now get back too it before I wallop you!” 

A normal child would have begun complaining at this point, but Lan simply looked up, nodded, then continued. 

“Hoh” Byakko thought “Got some good determination there. Let’s see how long he’ll last.” 

They then continued the training regime, Byakko whacking Lan with his tail every time Lan stopped to rest. It was a slow and painstaking process but after an hour or so they finished the muscle training, and Lan began eating his lunch. 

“Alright Lan” Byakko said, stealing pieces of food from the lunch box, Lan protesting all the while “Since we’re going to be running anyway, I may as well show you a few nice places, and introduce you to a few friends, you’ll love them.”

After finishing the lunchbox, most of it winding up in Byakko’s gut, the two of them got up, finished a few simple stretches, and then began running through the forest with Byakko leading and Lan struggling to keep up. They passed many beautiful places while they were running, crystal clear streams with animals drinking at the edge, breathtaking waterfalls falling into grottos beneath the earth, and wide open meadows bursting with wildflowers, and the entrances to deep caves where things seemed to glitter inside. Byakko skipped along, a large smile on his face and his features brimming with energy. Lan however struggled to keep up, sweat flowing form his small frame and his body as limp as a noodle from exhaustion. 

Eventually they made their way to an enormous tree that was far from the village. It was a gigantic oak that was at least 10 stories high that towered above the surrounding area like a guardian colossi. The area around the tree was mostly barren, with grass poking out here and there. There was a path leading up to a hole in the tree that looked like a cave opening, and strewn all over the area were bones of many different animals. Lan looked around nervously while catching his breath, wondering what his grandpa had brought him here to see. Suddenly a growling sound filled the area and glowing eyes lit up within the confines of the tree. 

“Grandpa must have brought me here to fight Grimm” Lan thought, clenching his fists “I won’t betray his expectations!”

Slowly, the beasts began to exit their cave, but instead of the Grimm Lan had been expecting, what emerged from the cave was a pack of large blood red wolves. Regardless, they looked threatening and Lan set himself into an amateurish looking fighting stance, ready for a brawl.

“Calm down, kid” Byakko said, chuckling “they’re friends.”

With that Byakko brought his fingers to his lips and let out a loud whistle. The wolves stopped growling, looked in Byakko’s direction, and then began wagging their tails apparently happy to see him. 

“Come on Lan” Byakko said confidently “Let’s go meet the pack!”

The two of them began walking in the direction of the wolves, and at the same time other wolves began coming out of the cave, they were smaller than the wolves that had first emerged and were probably the families of the larger wolves. The wolves began growling again once they caught sight of Lan, but Byakko slammed his hands together in a thundering clap, causing every wolf to yelp in surprise, and fixed them with a criticizing eye. 

“He’s a friend boys and girls, treat him well.”

The wolves, completely understanding Byakko, plodded over to Lan and began sniffing him, then after the whole group had gotten his sent, they began to lick him. 

“Hey!” Lan said laughing “that tickles!” 

“Nice pack don’t you think” Byakko said with a smile, patting one of the large wolves on the head “ I became friends with them a few years back when I saved them from a bunch of Grimm, and now they treat me like the Alpha, and since your my pup, they’ll be treating you good as well!”

Byakko whistled, and the older wolves dispatched themselves from the group to go meet him. Lan was about to bolt after them, but then felt a pull on the hem of his pants, and looked down to see a little pup chewing on his pants. 

“Pretty ironic that they like me so much huh kid” Byakko said patting one of the wolves on the head.

“Why?” Lan responded. 

“You know!” Byakko said “that thing with cats and dogs and how they…Oh never mind you’ll get it eventually.”

Byakko then started conversing with the older wolves who strangely seemed able to understand him. After a few moments Byakko nodded and turned back to Lan.

“Well, have fun playing kids”, he said cracking his knuckles “Us adults are going to go on a little hunting trip to help the pack stock up on food rations. When the times are rough, the Alpha steps up!”

Byakko and most of the older wolves then dashed into the forest, and quickly disappeared from sight. 

Lan picked up the little puppy that was chewing his pants and brought the little guy up to eye level. The pup yipped then licked Lan’s nose.

“You’re my first animal friend!” Lan said bringing the wolf pup into a hug “I think I’ll give you a name!” 

Lan thought for a few moments and quickly formulated a list of names, he then ran down the list in his mind and picked out a good one. 

“I’ll name you Ignis! It’s the name of one of the fire spirits from a book grandma Anna read to me last night.”

The puppy looked very much like all the others, bright red with what appeared to be little black bumps poking out here and there. But the hair on the sides of his body was slightly orange and gave his fur a flame like pattern, which gave Lan the idea for the name and allowed him to distinguish the little guy from the rest of the puppies that were now swarming around him. 

The little dog yipped, apparently pleased with the new name. After that Lan spent the next hour playing with the rest of the puppies in the pack, during which many of his clothes were removed and chewed up. Once Byakko returned with the other adult wolves, they found Lan chasing all the puppies in his underwear, trying in vain to get his clothes back. 

“How the heck did that happen?” Byakko said dropping the fresh kill he and the wolves had made. 

“I don’t know” Lan responded desperately “We started playing on the ground and before I knew it they’d taken my clothes off!” Lan pointed to the puppies, who were beginning to shred the clothes.

“Well show some dominance!” Byakko said slamming his fist into his palm “You’ve got to show them who’s boss!” 

“I’ve been asking them nicely, but they don’t listen!” Lan said, beginning to panic. 

Byakko sighed, he made a mental note to teach Lan how to be more assertive later, but for now he had to get those clothes back, Anna would be furious if they were damaged too much. Byakko took a deep breath, and then let out an ear-splitting shout. 

“ATTENTION!”

The sudden burst of sound startled the puppies, who dropped the clothes that they were about to turn into mulch. They then turned to look in Byakko’s direction. 

“Bring them here” Byakko said pointing at his feet.

The puppies, seeming to understand quickly, picked up the clothes in their mouths and slowly brought them over Byakko’s feet, trembling slightly in fear of his wrath. Byakko grunted in acknowledgement. He and Lan then picked up the clothes that were now soaked with drool and brought them to a nearby stream and washed them. Once they were hung to dry they continued with training. 

“Alright Lan” Byakko said “time for something technical!”

Byakko then began teaching Lan basic martial arts movements, which included punches; kicks; and foot techniques from a variety of different styles. Lan failed rather often, due to his lack of experience and exhaustion from his previous ordeals, but was picking up them up much faster than a normal boy would have been expected to. 

What Byakko taught Lan was very different from his own combat style, which was a formless primal brawling technique that he had developed many years ago. He did so because his fighting style relied heavily on his natural wildness, instincts, and overwhelming destructive power. It may not have been the best style to teach Lan. 

“Every one’s got one fighting style their best” he thought, while fixing one of Lan’s kicking positions “I’ll just see where the kid’s talents lie, then go from there.”

Byakko was teaching Lan the most basic techniques of the many martial arts he knew to try and figure out what style would be most suitable for the boy. After he discovered what kind of style suited Lan best, he planned to research it in depth by visiting some of his old constituents. However, at Lan’s current age, it may take a year or two before he could discern what it was, so what was important right now was to teach him the basics and build up Lan’s physical foundation so he would be ready when it was time. Byakko grinned as he thought about the grueling and inhuman training regimens that he was planning. 

There was also unlocking his aura to consider. Living in the world of Remnant was dangerous, with Grimm waiting to tear you apart the first chance they got. Having the boy discover what his semblance was could also improve his rate of progress tremendously. But after thinking for a bit, Byakko decided not to unlock the boy’s aura at present time for two reasons. One, the sudden influx of power may destabilize the boy and throw his mentality off balance. Two he may not be ready to handle the aura yet and may hurt himself. 

“Once the boy kills his first Grimm, I’ll unlock his aura” Byakko decided, “That may not be for a few years though”, after finishing that thought, he returned his full attention to fixing Lan’s bad posture.

The basic training continued for another hour, after which it was then time for the two to return to the village. Lan put his clothes back on now that they were done drying then turned back to the tree cave.

“Bye guys” Lan said waving at the wolves, sweat dripping down his face. 

“I’ll come see you guys again later”. In response the wolves began howling in unison, a tribute to their new friend. Lan and Byakko then turned around and walked back along the path to the village.  
.  
.  
.  
When they arrived back at the village, almost the entire village was waiting in the square, many of the denizens eager to teach their new young ward, many also had a gruff expression on their faces, obviously miffed by something.

“Well” Byakko said, patting Lan on the back, “it’s their turn now. See you in a few hours. I gots a date with the hunt! And she’s lady that waits for no man!” And with that Byakko dashed out of the village and back into the forest to get food for the village.

After he left, the force field generator was quickly switched back on, and Lan was quickly ushered into a large meeting hall where he took a seat in the middle of a circle of chairs. The meeting hall was a large building with a high ceiling. The exceptions being the electrical lighting fitted into the ceiling, the snacks placed on a table along one of the walls, and a screen and projector at the far end of the hall. The building was made from painted wood, and generally had the look of an old style town hall. 

Inside the building seated around a circular table were Rowan, Anna, Hiroshi, a man with long curly with a worn facial features who was wearing a long gentlemen’s coat, a muscular old Gorilla Faunus who was wearing a pair of overalls with a white shirt underneath and a straw hat, and a small bespectacled old man in a short trench coat. 

“Hello Lan” said Hiroshi, who stood up to greet the boy “I would like to introduce you to your teachers.”

The other around the table greeted him. Anna with a smile, Rowan with a thumbs up, the long-haired man with an emotional “greetings”, the gorilla faunus with a grunt, and the bespectacled old man with a slight nod. 

“Now after our discussion last night” continued Hiroshi “we decided on teaching you skills that we all believe would be indispensable in thriving in this world of ours, and these individuals have been selected as the most capable to teach you. Now I’m not going to waste any time with any long speeches.”

Hiroshi checked his watch and noted their remaining time. 

“Here is your schedule” said Hiroshi, handing Lan a piece of paper. “and in case you can’t read I have used picture coordination.”

On the paper, next to each subject, was a picture of the one who would be teaching it and below each picture was an arrow pointing down to another, showing who came after who. 

“A bell will toll when it is time for you to move on to your next lesson” said Hiroshi, getting up. “And that’s about it. Come on move along, we’ve all got lots to do.”

On that note everyone got up and walked away to prepare for their individual lessons, all except Anna who walked over to Lan and took his hand.

“Come along dear” she said with a smile, “It’s time for your first lesson.”

Smiling, Lan got up and followed her out.


	3. Chapter 3

Ch 3 Classes

Anna: Cooking

“Alright” Anna said, placing here hands on her hips. “What do you know about cooking Lan?”

“You eat it!” Lan said smiling.

“Yes” Anna said with a patronizing smile “But do you understand how you to create it? How to turn the ingredients into actual food instead of just nourishment?”

Lan shook his head and stared back up at Anna, his eyes filled with the curiosity and wonder that only the young and a few enlightened elder individuals are able to possess. And Anna was more than capable of taking advantage of this. 

Many years ago Anna had owned a five-star restaurant in a small town named The Silver Spoon. From a young age she had worked through the culinary arts, guided by the hand of her loving mother, and eventually made her way into a famous culinary school where she demolished the competition. By the age of 23 she owned a blossoming 3-star restaurant, and after a few more years of devotion to her craft she had raised it to the 5-star level. However, recognition can be both a good and a bad thing. Many wealthy, and at the same time unscrupulous, individuals came to eat at her fine establishment. Unluckily for her, she caught the eye of Uric Sergio, a prominent figure in the underground. When he tried to make his move on her, he received a frying pan to the face for his troubles. Afterwards he used his influence to harass Anna’s business and customers. Eventually people stopped coming to her restaurant and she was left in dire economic straits. But Uric didn’t stop there, after Anna’s hard earned connections had been severed he sent his men to begin harassing her friends and family. Alas, if only it had been simple harassment. Almost all of her friends and family were killed in their “little pranks”, and those who weren’t alienated themselves from her. Ann eventually had to sell off her broken down restaurant to pay for many of her debts, and she only received a fraction of its worth because there was only one buyer in the town (and I think you know who). She was then forced to leave town, Uric laughing at her as she pushed her cart away. After many years of traveling as a roadside restaurant, she eventually came to Longa Cinere where she was able to make new friends and start a new life.

“Well that’s what you’re going to be learning today!” Anna said ushering the boy into the kitchen. 

The kitchen was a rather small one, with plain wooden walls and a rough stone floor, but had the atmosphere of those that you would only find in the highest class of restaurants. Innumerable cooking utensils hung from the walls, as well as a variety of pots, pans, and other cooking containers. In the back of the room, and surrounded on both sides by stoves, was an enormous refrigerator.

“Now I’m just to give you a warning up front Lan” said Anna, after she believed he had finished soaking in the sights. “All your other teachers and I won’t be starting slow or small with you. We will begin by teaching you advanced parts of our trade and teach you basics when necessary. It will be a long and painstaking process, what do you say to that?

“Bring it on!” shouted Lan, punching the air. 

Anna smiled at the young boy’s enthusiasm. 

“Very well then. Today will be preparing Lasagna!”

“Yeah!” shouted Lan, jumping up and down “I’ll feed it to Grandpa later!”

For his first time, Lan did exceptionally well in the kitchen. Even though he was surrounded by many foreign tools that he had no idea how to use, mounds of varied ingredients (many of which a normal person would never see), and a menagerie of places where he could have been cut or burned. He didn’t get a single injury, only got a few ingredients wrong, spilled the batter only once, ruined only one of the steps of the preparation process, and never put in anything that wasn’t an actual food item. But nonetheless, his dish turned out dismal. The cheese, which was supposed to be a golden yellow, was a darkish green color, all of the meat particles were almost consistently burned throughout, the pasta had a strange bluish tinge, and the tomato sauce gave off a blackish smoke.

“He certainly has some kind of talent.” Thought Anna, as she stared down at his … masterpiece. “Hopefully I can channel that talent from gut-wrenching to gut-pleasing.”

She turned around to comfort the boy who she believed would be without a doubt moping and tell him that he had done well for his first try, but instead found him with his hand on his chin and a thoughtful expression on his face. He was murmuring to himself about what he could have done differently.

“Got to do better.” He murmured to himself “shouldn’t have trembled so much when I was stirring and…” 

“Most kids would be fuming over a result like this.” Anna thought “We’ve got ourselves a pretty tough customer here.”

Lan shook his head and stared back up at Anna.

“Do you think Grandpa will still eat it?” he asked

“That man will eat anything” answered Anna with a smile.

She then wrapped the bubbling mix and placed it in a special compartment in the fridge. It was then that they heard a bell being rung, signaling Lan’s transition to his next lesson. 

“Run along now” Anna said, patting Lan on the head, “It’s time for your next lesson.”

Lan nodded, smiled and then ran off. Bursting through the door, and heading down the path too his next lesson. Anna smiled as she watched the door swing close and then began to make dinner preparations, which included a strong digestive for Byakko who would definitely be needing it.

Over the course of Lan’s cooking lessons with Anna, his skill would grow at a tremendous rate. His knife handling skills would allow him to successfully prepare many different meats, his cooking stamina would grow tremendously, and he would gain the necessary ability to cook most of the dishes in Anna’s cookbooks. This was able to come to fruition due to the motherly bond Anna was able to form with the boy.   
Rowan: Engineering

Lan ran joyfully down the path to Rowan’s house. 

“This is going to be fun!” Lan thought, as he passed home after home.

After a few minutes of running he arrived at the place and took a good look it. Rowan’s home was a two-story building that was built out of metal. You could see the many metal pieces sticking out like patchwork. The largest part of the building was the garage, which reached from the 1st to the second. 

Rowan was in the garage standing in front of what appeared to be a large, dilapidated vacuum cleaner. Lan was about to walk over but stopped as he saw Rowan tense up. With a loud clanging sound Rowan slammed his fist against a table next to him, launching a variety of tools into the air. Then with amazing speed, Rowan’s hands shot out, grabbed tools from the air, and began repairing the vacuum. His hands were like a whirlwind as he pulled tools from the air, only to replace them and grab new ones a second later. Within a few minutes he was finished. The vacuum player looked as good as new, sparkling as though it had just got off the assembly line. Rowan yawned, stretched, and then turned his head to stare at Lan who was still stunned by the amazing feat of machination he had just seen. Rowan smiled and greeted the boy.

“Hey little buddy, that time already?” He said, glancing at his watch. “Alright! Let’s get this lesson started!...Don’t just stand there! Come on in!”

Rowan was a well-built senior citizen, having worked with a variety dangerous machinery throughout his life, with medium-length faded blonde hair and a light beard. He was wearing a large white t-shirt, a pair of baggy jeans, and a coat tied around his waist. He also had a pair of goggles on his head and a pair of gloves on for his work. 

Shaking his head to clear it of musk, Lan walked forward and entered the garage. He looked around as he entered. The garage was completely filled with mechanical marvels. There were strange machines and tools hanging from every inch of wall, racks of assorted parts spread out as far as the eye could see, and there was a large pile of dust crystals in the back of the room. 

“Well kid, I think for today I’ll just tell you about a few basics and have you work on something simple. So for now take a seat. Hmmm, I’m thinking something weapony.”

If there was anyone who knew how to make a good weapon, it was Rowan. Many years ago he had worked for the Schnee dust Company weapons development lab, where he helped devise many pieces of cutting edge technology. He devoted his entire body and soul to his work, creating new technological marvels that amazed all of his fellow constituents. He was brilliant. But was perhaps a little too brilliant. His works consistently outdid the inventions of the son of one of the Schnee dust company’s top shareholders. Outraged that his inventions were outdone by “a mere commoner”, he used his father’s power and influence to pin the blame of many of the lab’s failings on Rowan. Rowan was eventually fired for “incompetence”, but he took it quite well. He walked out of the building with a smile on his face and everything he owned slung over his back. But right before he left he gave son of the shareholder and right hook to the jaw. Due to this incident, however, he was never able to find any work in any professional labs again, but nevertheless he continued to do what he loved when he could. Many of his inventions caused great ripples across Remnant; however he didn’t reveal that he had invented them because he didn’t want the “annoying attention” that would come from it. After many years of this lifestyle he eventually settled in Longa Cinere, where he quickly made friends with most of the villagers and assumed the position of the village’s engineer.

Rowan pulled a small stool out from behind the table beside him. He then walked off, saying that he needed to get something. Lan shrugged and then plopped down on the chair, still taking in the many sights around him. But suddenly, something caught his eye. In the back of the room was a giant humanoid robot. It was made out of grey plated metal and had two giant clamps for hands. It legs were long, thick, and what looked like a complex system of joints. There were also many crevices and outlines on the machine that alluded to hidden weaponry. It the top was an open air cockpit where the pilot could hop into at any time. Lan was still examining the masterpiece of technology when Rowan started yelling from somewhere.

“Almost…gah, Ready” Shouted Rowan, grunting from the exertion of pulling something.

A few moments later he appeared from between a row of large shelves, pulling what appeared to be a smooth, roundish, yellow table. He stopped in front of Lan, stretched, and then smiled at the boy. He then pulled out a small black remote from his back pocket and pressed a button. The small table began to give off a humming sound, and then shot a beam of light into the air that slowly widened into a screen.

“Okay, first lesson” said Rowan, enjoying the amazed look on Lan’s face “We’ll be learning about mankind’s energy source and a few engineering techniques.”

He then clicked another button and a video began to play on the screen. The video talked about Dust, nature’s wrath incarnate that mankind had harnessed as an energy source and allowed them to gain an advantage over the Grimm many years ago. Dust had also allowed humans to expand their civilizations and develop their technologies to an amazing degree. The video continued to go on about the importance of dust in mankind’s development, especially the development of more effective weaponry, but then began talking about different devices that changed refined dust into energy forms that could be used to power a menagerie of different devices from the largest aircrafts to basic ovens. All the while Rowan added his own theories and ideas into the mix. At the end of the video Lan’s brain was pounding, filled with the massive amount of info he had just seen.

“Come on kid” Rowan shouted, smiling down at the boy “It ain’t over yet!”

Rowan then began to explain a few concepts the boy would need to know to work more easily. He talked about torque, conductivity, as well as a few other concepts. He was still in the middle of talking about electrical resistance when the gong sounding the end of his class wet off.

“What already?” said Rowan, frowning. He then shrugged and his usual smile reappeared on his face. “Well that’s that. Next time you come I’ll teach how to make something, what it is…I haven’t decided yet!” 

Patting Lan on the back, Rowan ushered the boy out of his garage. 

“Come one kid, time to head over to Edgar’s. If you don’t get their soon, he’ll start wailing on me with his over-melodramatic whining, an there ain’t no way I’m listening to that again. So go and wash up and head over to his place already!”

Lan quickly complied, running over to the sink and scrubbing his hands, he then dashed out of the garage. As Lan ran off Rowan smiled and walked back into the factory.

“Weapons” he thought “The boy’s got to learn how to make some good weapons!”

Over the course of Lan’s lessons with Rowan he would learn how to repair and build many things. Rowan would give him massive amounts of hands on experience fixing and building a wide array of mechanical marvels and do dads. At the end he would be able to make simple vehicles as well as other strange devices, however his weapon building skills didn’t become good enough to build and special or hybrid weapons. Will he ever learn how to? Well that is a story for another day.

Edgar: Music

Lan was running up the path towards Edgar’s home, a large green Victorian style home, when he first heard the tunes coming out of the window. He stopped and closed his eyes as the music began to wash over him and the sweet melodies engulfed his mind. He heard the sweet tweets of a flute dancing gently in the air, then he heard the powerful deep tone of a baritone break through the air, then there was mysterious strum of the violin. Lan listened for a while longer, taking in the sound of all the different instruments that resounded back and forth.

“Enjoying the music my young ward?”

Lan looked up, and there, sitting on the edge of the windowsill with a clarinet in his hands, was Edgar. Edgar was a tall and skinny old man with long wavy white hair, but was by no means wiry. He possessed a strong frame from handling many different instruments. He was wearing a black tuxedo, black leather shoes, and a black bowtie.

In his youth he had been a rising star in the music world, his music slowly capturing the hearts of those he played for. He had a bright future ahead of him; however things went down the drain quickly. His lover Annette, contracted an incurable illness and he was forced to borrow money from unscrupulous individuals to pay her hospital fees. His concerts became worse and worse as the pressure of his situation inhibited his creativity, and as his number of fans dwindled so did his source of income. After he missed his first payment, thugs came and wrecked his concert hall. After that, no more of his fans came. He watched as he slowly lost everything he owned, taken as collateral by the loan sharks. But the final blow came when Annette, removed from medical care after Edgar had been unable to pay the bills, died. Broken and alone, Edgar had left his life behind him and after many years of drifting he arrived in Longa Cinere and old man. For the first few months he had stayed in one of the taverns drinking his money and life away, but after an eye-opening and soul-shaking discussion with Hiroshi Edgar’s passion for composing was reignited (although some say a little too strongly). Now in the golden years of his life, Edgar composes masterworks with frightening speed, as though making up for lost time. He still has trouble with alcohol here and there, bad habits die very hard in the old, but thankfully he had gotten it under control…sometimes.

“Come in, come in” said Edgar, waving his hand at the first floor door. “We have much to do in our short time together.”

Lan walked up to the front door of the house, opened it and entered. A long hallway stretched out before him leading to a door in the back, on his left side there was a sink and a basin. He then heard Edgar’s voice resound all around him. 

“Remove your sho—Oh that’s right, you don’t wear them. In that case wash your feet your feet before entering the room ahead.”

Lan shrugged and then hopped onto the sink and began to scrub his feet. After finishing he hopped back down, ran to the door, and opened. Inside was a large room decorated with flash wallpaper. Elegant pieces of furniture were scattered about the room, and the moldings of all the walls and mantles had high quality carvings in them. Also, taking up their own little niches in the room, were a variety of different instruments, accompanied with chairs and stands if needed. Sitting on a bench and playing a piano at the end of the room was Edgar. 

“Come!” he said in his passionate voice “Sit and begin to learn the ways of soul expression!” 

Lan walked over and plopped down beside him. 

“The best place to begin learning of music, in my opinion, is the piano!” said Edgar with a smile “A instrument on which both the mentor and the pupil may work the same keys! Now listen!”

Edgar then began to play, it was a soft and gentle piece that captured the imagination. The tones rose and fell like the waves, but never became very loud. As Lan listened, he envisioned the silhouette of a boy walking along the seashore at night during a full moon. All of a sudden Edgar’s music began to speed up and rumble, as though the sea was growing agitated and a great storm was beginning to brew, then slowly returned to its original tune, but this time it was a little lighter, as if day had arrived. He then ended with a melody that gave the nostalgic feeling of returning home.

“Dark sea” Edgar said, turning to look at Lan “That is the name of this piece. It is one that I wrote many years ago when I first arrived here. Did you enjoy it?”

Lan nodded slowly, his mind still returning from the world it had been captured in. 

“You will learn how to play this and many other tunes while you are here, not all of them on the same instrument. Now, to get you ready for this let’s learn our keys.”

For the rest of the lesson Edgar taught Lan every key on the keyboard, starting from middle C and spreading out from there. By the time the lesson was over, Lan had learned the first two lines of the piece. Edgar then patted Lan on the back and escorted the boy to the door.

Over the course of his lessons Lan would become an adept pianist, not exactly a virtuoso, but good nonetheless. He would also take up a second instrument, the clarinet. 

Greb: Farming

Greb was a large gorilla Faunus. He was quite harry, and was extremely well muscled. He had one a large white shirt and a pair of overalls; he also had on a large straw hat. Greb was in charge of large portions of land that the village used to grow many of its crops. He was a serious and gruff man, always trying to make the most efficient use of his time. He was a master of cultivation and could grow most anything in the soil. 

Greb used to be the head farmer of a large corporate farm. However, due to a hard-felt economic recession, the farm was forced to sell its land and resources. Out of a job, Greb spent a few decades traveling from place to place, working on any other farms that needed him. During that time he acquired his vast knowledge of agriculture, and by the time he arrived in Longa Cinere, he was a one-man farming operation. 

He was currently lounging under a large tree, his work done for the day except for…

“Hey!” he heard a young voice yell.

Greb lifted the tip of his hat and stared at Lan who was running towards him. He smiled, but all of a sudden his eyes widened in alarm. Jumping to his feet, he grabbed a pitchfork that was next to him and hurled it at Lan, landing with a “thunk” inches from Lan’s toes.

Lan yelped, and hopped backwards a few steps. 

“Careful” growled Greb, “you were about to crush the sprouts.”

Lan looked ahead of him on the ground and noticed a small patch of land with buds poking out of the ground.

“They’re rare herbs” said Greb walking towards Lan who, still surprised by the attack, simply blurted out unintelligible garble.

“Whatthe wha? pitchfork Huh?” 

“We farmers take our crops very seriously” said Greb, standing over the boy like a colossus, “and we make sure that anyone who even tries to ruin or steal the fruits of our labor won’t want to try ever again.”

Lan swallowed as he stared into the man’s eyes.

“Well anyway” said Greb, pulling of his hat and scratching his head. “The best way for you to learn is hands on experience. Now I’ve set aside a few small plots for you to work on, each about 10 square meters in size. You will be doing things. First you will prep a piece of land for agriculture by removing all weeds and other intrusive plants, second you will till the ground, third you will prep the area for cultivation by using some of my special organic fertilizers.” 

Greb motioned towards of large cart of stinking brown matter; amazingly Lan could see actual stink lines rising off of it. 

“Afterwards you will seed the ground. If we still have time after that you will help me harvest some of the fruits and vegetables that are about ready. Now come on we’ve got work to do.”

Lan followed Greb to a small patch of land isolated in the middle of a field. He then set to work cultivating it, following Greb’s every instruction. He made mistakes here and there, each time receiving a clout on the head from Greb, but finished before the end of their lesson time. Lan’s clothes were soaked through with sweat and his breath came in ragged gasps. 

“Come on” said Greb, ignoring the boy’s exhaustion. “time for some harvesting”

The two of them walked towards a group of trees at the edge of the farmland. Once they arrived Greb procured a few large baskets, climbed into the trees, and began picking the ripe fruits. Lan followed suit as best he could, but due to his lack of coordination and tree climbing skills picked the fruit very slowly as he clung onto each branch for dear life. Once they had filled all the baskets, Greb brought them over to a hose where he washed all the fruit off. The baskets were filled with apples, figs, pears, and plums. 

“Here” said Greb, pulling out one of each freshly washed fruit “Good work today.”

Lan gratefully accepted the morsels and as he bit into their sweet flesh he shivered as the delicious flavors flooded over him.

“Nothing like a bite after work” said Greb, shoving a whole apple into his mouth. “Makes the food taste much better.”

The two of them sat, chatting and eating until the bell heralding the end of the class sounded. 

“Go on kid” said Greb, picking up the fruit filled baskets “it’s time for your next class.”

The two of them walked off in opposite directions, Lan towards a large Japanese-style building on the other side of the field, and Greb towards the center of town to distribute the fruits.

Over the course of Lan’s lessons with Greb, he would learn to cultivate many of the most basic crops including corn, wheat, and tomatoes. He would also learn of many farming techniques to fertilize the grounds without the use of fertilizers, like planting legumes to add nitrogen back into the ground, as well as other tricks to increase crop yield and quality. If there ever came a time when he would have to grow his own food, he would be very well prepared.

Hiroshi: History and Tactics

Lan stood in front of the large wooden gate in front of Hiroshi’s home. He felt slightly intimidated by the place, as though he were standing in front of a fortress. All of a sudden, with a loud squeaking sound, the wooden gate opened.

“Enter” he heard a voice from inside say. 

Lan stepped through the doorway and found himself in a Japanese style garden. He looked up and down as he crossed the area, noting the small bridges crossing small streams, the banzai trees, and the small ponds filled with carp. 

He came up to a paper-screen door. Inside he could see the outline of a man. 

“Come in” said the man.

Lan reached forwards and pulled the screen open. 

Hiroshi was sitting on a mat with a number of assorted scrolls and books beside him. He motioned for Lan to sit on a mat across from him. 

Hiroshi was an elderly man who, despite his advanced years, had a head of very dark hair and a small goatee. He was currently wearing a deep blue yukata. He also had a very intense stare that unnerved most that were cast under it for long periods of time. 

In Hiroshi’s younger years he had been a master tactician and had commanded thousands of skilled hunters and huntresses. He was very careful, very meticulous, and was willing to take chances when needed. These qualities coupled with his unshakable demeanor led him to preside over hundreds of victorious battles, and throughout his whole professional career he had not one unplanned defeat. However, his greatest recorded victory also became his last. His division had discovered a large force of Grimm near one of the kingdoms and had attempted to route them. He drafted dozens of battle plans, predicted hundreds of responses, and ran thousands of simulations in his head and when he was finally ready he had his troops get in position for attack on embankments overlooking the position of the Grimm. It all went downhill from there. As if the very heavens themselves were against them, the moment the troops were in position a massive rainstorm suddenly blew over the previously blue sky, and as if that wasn’t enough an earthquake also began at that point. The softened ground gave way to the seismic tremors and the vast majority of Hiroshi’s troops falling towards the open maws below. Luckily for mankind, all of Hiroshi’s troops had been outfitted with powerful explosives and in their last act of defiance; all of the troops activate theirs. The effect was the same as dropping a massive volley of missiles. The Grimm forces were decimated and were routed by reinforcements that arrived later. This skirmish was seen as a victory for mankind and Hiroshi was welcomed back as a hero, however he didn’t feel that way. Even though the circumstances had been unforeseeable, he still believed that he had sent all those men and women to their deaths. Shackled with that guilt, he resigned from his position and isolated himself in the forest. After a few years of living as a hermit, Hiroshi met a recruiter from the village. By that time Hiroshi had begun to forgive himself and accepted the recruiter’s invitation. 

“Tell me boy” Hiroshi said suddenly “Why do we study history?”

Lan thought for a moment and then timidly replied “Because it’s not nice to—“

“Louder!” Hiroshi interjected “If you are answering speak with confidence! “

Lan swallowed, rethought his response and then continued. 

“Because it makes us smarter?”

“WRONG” yelled Hiroshi, causing Lan to jump in fright “There are 4 reasons why we study history! 1. It helps you to understand how the world around you came to be and your place in it. 2. It helps you develop the skills to think apart from the masses, to ask questions properly, and to express your own opinions. 3. It trains your mind and teaches you how to think and process information more efficiently. 4. To learn from the mistakes of those who came before us and insure that they never happen again! Now tell me boy what are tactics?”

Before Lan could answer Hiroshi responded for him. 

“Tactics what we use to handle situations after analyzing past information, in other words history.”

Hiroshi rose to his feet grabbed one of the scrolls next to him and threw it at Lan who caught it with a fumbling motion. 

“If you know how to write, take notes” said Hiroshi walking to a chalkboard on one of the walls “We will start from the beginning when mankind was first born from dust.”

Hiroshi then began to recount mankind’s birth into the world and its troubles with the Grimm that roamed the world. When he began to talk about how dust turned the tide Lan raised his hand. 

“Why did dust make such a big difference” he asked “Grandpa never uses it but he crushes Grimm like ants.”

“Excellent question” said Hiroshi, nodding. “Byakko is one of the rare masters in the world who have been able to transcend the normal boundaries of humanoid strenght, enabling him to fight on a higher level so he never needed to use dust. However, most humans are not able to do so. Powerful warriors like your grandfather were too few and far between to protect all of humanity. No matter how strong they were they couldn’t be everywhere at once. That is why in order to survive mankind had to bring up the quality of its regular troops, and nothing did so as well as dust which allowed mankind to wield nature’s wrath.”

After explaining the history of some of the earlier civilizations the bell rang. Lan, laden with notes, bowed to Hiroshi then quickly left the building. Hiroshi watched the young boy hurry toward the gate. He saw that Lan was obviously unnerved. Hiroshi smiled, old military habits die hard. He had used the old scare tactic on the boy without even realizing it. 

Donovan: School Core Curriculum (Math, English, basic sciences)

I can tell you what this class was like with one word “school”, and yes I know that it makes many of you shudder. But most of the villagers recognized the need for the boy to receive a basic education if he was to function well in society. Lan was, except for a few times where he began to daydream, an ideal student who focused intently on everything that Donovan, to town’s librarian, taught him and once they were finished with the class Lan tromped back to Byakko’s home where, due to his overused brain, he collapsed on his bed and slept for an hour.

Afterwards, he decided to go to the library. He headed to the fairy tale section and began reading a menagerie of books, completely enchanted by the magical worlds filled with adventure. He spent his entire 3 hours free time in there, loving every page of the wondrous tales he read. Once his last hour of free time was over, Donavan came to get him for supper at Anna’s where Byakko was already waiting for him.

“So” Byakko said smiling “how was your first day?” 

“It was great” Lan said, his eyes sparkling “I learned so much fun stuff, and read lots of exciting stories!” 

“Well your day is about to get even better” Byakko said reaching into his jacket, “Behold!” he said pulling out a strange looking mushroom. 

“Wow” Lan said, then quickly realizing he didn’t know what it was asked “What is it?”

“It is a rare nigrum truffle” Byakko said drooling “they are rare delicacies, and I found this baby while I was tackling a warthog this afternoon and I thought I’d share it with you”

“Aww” Lan said genuinely touched “Is it really that good?” 

“Yeah!” Byakko said loudly “they absolutely explode with flavor! But if you don’t prepare them correctly they’ll make you explode with—-“he paused, and then looked up, noticing the frying pan inches from his head. 

“Right” Byakko said calmly “I guess I’ll just leave it at that”

Anna nodded then took the mushroom from Byakko’s hand, and headed to the kitchen to prepare the meal. Lan and Byakko were now waiting for the food to be prepared, and taking that time Lan decided to think about his new life.   
“I don’t really remember what happened before I got here” he thought sadly “but things are going great so far, I have a great family now, I’m learning so much about the world, and I’m going to get stronger every day. Some of its really tough, but it’s well worth the effort!”

He turned towards Byakko and smiled, thinking about what amazing things he’ll see and learn about in this town.   
“I’m going to grow up to be someone they can all be proud of, someone they won’t be ashamed to call their grandson” Lan decided “I’m going to become just like one of the heroes in the stories I read, maybe even greater!”

“What is there something on my face?” Byakko said, noticing Lan’s stare. 

“No” Lan said still smiling “I was just spacing out.”

Byakko chuckled and ruffled the boy’s hair.

Soon after, the food arrived. After they finished the initial courses the truffle dish was brought out and was truly delicious. Lan would remember that taste all his life, a taste that would always remind him of a new beginning. 

“Byakko” sang Anna as she came out of the kitchen, holding something behind her back “I’ve got a surprise for you!”

“If its food I am ready!” said Byakko, pulling a knife and fork out of thin air. 

Anna smiled and then placed the…lasagna that Lan had made that afternoon in front of Byakko. It had now turned a black color and was giving of a repugnant smell. 

“Lan made it for you” Anna said, chuckling with her hands on her hips “Give it a try.”

Most people would have been scared out of their mind at the prospect of eating such a dish, but Byakko simple shrugged and proceeded to devour the black goo. In a few seconds he finished, he then set the dish down, sighed, and slumped back in the chair. A few seconds later he bolted up right.

“Bathroom!” he cried

Anna’s serene face was suddenly overcome with panic. 

“Oh no you’re not using my—”

Too late. Byakko had already bolted upstairs, and they soon heard a door slam. A few seconds later they heard a loud explosion which was followed by a flush. The ceiling then began to drip water. Anna sighed and went to go get Rowan. A few moments later Byakko came back down.

“Oh Yeah!” he said with a smile “That was one powerful lasagna!”

They then headed back home, Byakko hefting Lan onto his shoulder and as soon as they arrived they headed upstairs where Byakko tucked Lan into bed, patted him on the head, and then gave reading a bed time story a shot. He chose an excellent story about the journey of a forgotten hero, but completely failed when it came to voicing the characters properly and got many of the words wrong. After finishing it, he switched of the lights, went to his own bedroom, and quickly fell asleep, his snores audible even through the thick walls.

Lan lay in bed, his mind buzzing with excitement. 

“I wonder what tomorrow will be like” he thought “There are so many things left to do, and so many things left to see!”

His active mind kept him awake for a period of time, but a boy as young as he was can’t stay awake too long, and soon he was fast asleep. His dreams filled with visions of his exciting future, and the hope that tomorrow may bring.


	4. Chapter 4

Ch 4, The Wheels of fate begin to turn

2 years later

Lan is now 5 years old and has grown slightly taller and more muscular. The indecisiveness in his voice has vanished and he now has a constant spark of creativity in his eyes. He has also become reasonably adept with many of the martial arts Byakko has taught him and quite proficient in many of the skills the other villagers have taught him. He has however dropped most of them and focused mostly on the skills he learned on his first day as well as survival skills taught to him by Byakko and some basic first aid.

It was a warm summer day in Longa Cinere and Lan was currently out training with Byakko, so the denizens of the village were taking it easy and enjoying the afternoon. In a little Gazebo, a few of the villagers had come together to discuss Lan and his time spent in the village, they were having cups of tea and some of Anna’s special tea cookies.

“It’s been two years since Lan came here” Hiroshi said stroking his goatee, a large smile on his face “and he has made so much progress.” 

“I know!” said Rowan enthusiastically “the kid’s already getting the hand of a lot of the engineering techniques and already knows how to slap together some basic vehicles and weaponry. It’s awesome!”

Lan had been progressing at an astonishing rate through all the skills and abilities that had been taught to him. When approached with enthusiasm, any subject can be learned quickly and Lan had been enthusiastically going at every single thing he learned.

“Yes” said Edgar in his over impassioned voice “his skills are indeed becoming quite astonishing. As he begins to master different the different rhythms his understanding of music grows ever stronger. As he plays he begins to capture the spirit of the piece, and we have only just begun! Even now he has picked up many different instruments and is—“

“But the biggest change” said Lief, an expert fisherman and seagull Faunus, quickly cutting in to Edgar’s rant “are his combat skills. He has survived Byakko’s crazy training and has made leaps and bounds in strength and finesse… no pun intended.”

Indeed, over the years Byaako had made the boy go through all kinds of crazy and painful training which includes carrying a stone the size of his body a mile, climbing tall rock faces with his bare hands, and innumerable numbers of practice strikes.

With that all of them laughed and looked into the sky. The boy had become very important to all of them over these past two years; he was kind, passionate, and ever willing to try something new. He was their pride, treasure, and hope. 

“But” said Anna, sighing “He has started to pick up bits and pieces of Byakko’s personality quirks.”

Everybody groaned once she said this, all aware of the horrible changes the boy had begun to make.

“I guess he does spend the most time with him” said Gregory “I just wish Lan would have taken Byakko as an example of what not to be.” 

Over the past two years Lan had started becoming more impulsive and unpredictable, getting into crazy situations and doing wacky things, many of which included blowing something up or setting something on fire.

“I’ll say” Rowan said sighing “I honestly can’t believe that he made a full automated toilet launcher out of some of the spare parts in my garage. It was both deadly and hilarious.”

To emphasize his point, he lifted up his shirt and showed a small scar where a piece of porcelain had pierced him when Lan had tested the contraption out. 

“Where did he get the toilets?” asked Gregory, raising an eyebrow.

“From the dark bottomless abyss know as my trashcan” responded Rowan with a smile.

“He’s still young though” said Hiroshi, sipping his tea and ignoring the two of them “so he will have plenty of time to learn that this behavior will only get him into trouble in the real world.”

“HEY FELLAS, WHAT’S GOING ON!?” 

The entire group leapt out of their seats, and turned in the direction of the all too familiar voice. Byakko stood there with his usual massive grin sitting cleanly on his face. 

“Oh? Tea and snacks? Count me in guys” with that Byakko darted forward, shoved one hand into the plate of cookies on the table (ignoring everyone’s winces as they noticed his unwashed hands) and removed a large handful. At the same time his tail whipped out, grabbed the tea pot, and poured some into an empty cup.

“What the hell are you doing here!” shouted Greb, “You’re supposed to be training Lan right now!” 

“Aw relax” Byakko said with his mouth full “today I’m having him spar with his old friend Ignis, the two of them are about the same size now, and I’m having one of the older wolves watch over them today so they should be fine.” 

“You left a young boy with two wild wolves?” Hiroshi shouted, his face flushed with anger and his voice shaking “That’s just… just” 

“Calm down you old fart” Byakko said downing his tea in one gulp “The wolves wouldn’t dare touch a hair on his head. They have already accepted him as my cub, so their treating him as the son of their Alpha, and wolves would never do anything to hurt the Alpha’s cub when he’s still young, isn’t that right John?”

Byakko’s comment was directed at John, an old zoologist with a long beard. 

“Well, actually—“ started John

“You heard the man” Byakko said, quickly cutting him off “So just relax, I’m going to head back to check on him in a little while, and I’m sure the kid will be fine as long as he doesn’t do something too stupid while I’m gone, and considering he’s my grandson what are the odds of that?” 

At that comment, everyone at the table groaned, and began a silent prayer; all hoping Lan would be fine.  
.  
.  
.  
Lan peeked out from the corner of his eye at the older wolf; it was fast asleep, snoozing in the morning sun. 

“Yes!” Lan thought “Those herbs can really do the trick.”

Right after Byakko had left them, Lan and Ignis caught a rabbit. Using knowledge he had gained about herbs he had gained from a book on herology, Lan had tracked down sleep inducing herbs in the forest a few days before. Lan cooked had cooked the rabbit with the herbs, as well as with some other plants to hide the smell, and had offered it to the older wolf. It had been suspicious at first, but its suspicions were soon dispelled by the odors rising from Lan’s cooking, and it ate the rabbit whole.

Why did Lan do this? Well a few months ago Lan had overheard Byakko and some of the other villagers talking about his training and Lan had learned that Byakko did not plan on unlocking his aura until he had slain his first Grimm. 

“I’ll never be able to become a hero without releasing the power within my soul” Lan thought “and I’m more than ready to take down a Grimm.”

For the past two months Lan had been planning how to handle this problem, he believed that Byakko wouldn’t not believe him even if he brought back a dead Grimm because he had become much closer with the wolves recently and was capable of convincing them to take one down for him. So he believed that the best course of action was to trap one, bring it back to the village and slay it in front of everyone. For something like this, proper planning and procedure was necessary. 

Whenever Byakko had left him to himself, or had fallen asleep, Lan snuck off into the forest to search for possible targets. A few weeks ago he had found it, an ursa minor that was living alone in a small cave near some usual training sites. He had spent the last two weeks preparing for his excursion by studying the ursa’s behavioral pattern from afar, and preparing the tools and traps he would need. The cave was currently surrounded by a menagerie of traps Lan had made from scrap parts he found in the villages junk heap and things he had found in the forest, all of them nowhere near the areas where the ursa normally traveled. 

Lan was planning to lure the ursa into one of them with a special fragrant honey he had “borrowed” form Anna’s cupboard. He kept in a small flask in his jacket. After the ursa was securely in one of the traps, which ranged from pits covered with leaves to steel nets and cages, Lan planned to bombard it with small homemade explosives he had made with dust he had “borrowed” from one of the fireworks experts, scraps he had taken from the junk heap, and detonation equipment taken from Rowan’s workshop. They were percussive explosives that detonate upon impact, and could be switched on and off with a button. They were also rather weak because he didn’t want them to be strong enough to break whatever prison the ursa wound up in, but strong enough, that enough of them could wear the ursa down. Once the ursa was weakened he would take one of the transportation vehicles he had taken from Rowan’s lab, connect it to what the ursa was imprisoned in (he would have to transfer the ursa into a different containment medium if it was trapped in a hole though), then take it back to the village where he would finish it off in front of his grandpa. 

“Nothing can possible go wrong” Lan thought to himself, smiling.

Right before heading off, Lan quickly took stock of what he had: 30 of the small explosives, the small flask of fragrant honey, an emergency flare in case something went wrong, two chocolate bars, and a small hunting knife. 

“Are you ready Ignis?” Lan said to his now slightly larger friend. 

Ignis barked and wagged his tail, conveying the message that he was. Lan and Ignis were at present, the best of friends; they had grown up together and played together frequently. Ignis had helped Lan where he could over the past few months in gathering material and setting up traps, and was now itching to see some action (although he understood less than a fourth of what was actually going on).

Lan and Ignis dashed away from the clearing they were currently in and headed in the direction of the ursa’s cave. They kept running until they reached a cliff, overlooking a small valley where the cave was located in. From Lan’s previous reconnaissance trips, he knew that the ursa would be in its cave right now and wouldn’t come out for another hour or two. Taking another minute to scout the situation, Lan took note of all the surrounding traps he had laid, and decided that the pit nearest to the cave’s entrance would be the ideal place to trap the ursa. Lan and Ignis then carefully made their way down the side of the cliff, hopping from ledge to ledge until they reached the forest floor. Then, moving quietly, they moved through the forest, weaving among the trees and shrubberies until they were about ten meters from the entrance of the cave. Lan and Ignis quickly hid behind a tree, and then Lan slowly stuck his head out to get a good look at the inside of the cave. The ursa was inside, seemingly asleep. 

“Okay” Lan thought, pulling out the flask of honey “now for the hard part” 

He had to create a small trail with the honey, leading to the pit. He had enough in the flask, but the honey’s powerful smell would without a doubt rouse the ursa in a matter of minutes. So he had to create the trail, place the bottle on the leaves covering up the pit, and then hide in the bushes close to it all before the ursa caught up. Lan took a deep breath and placed his hand on the stopper. 

“Let’s rock” he thought, and with that pulled out the stopper and began trickling the honey onto the ground. 

He then took off running in the direction of the pit, Ignis close behind him. A few minutes later he heard a roaring sound and knew the ursa had awakened. 

“Come on” Lan thought panting, “Just a few hundred more meters”. 

After another minute of running, he broke through the tree line and came into the clearing with the pit. The pit was located right in the center and would be quite obvious to any intelligent observer, covered with leaves of all different kinds of colors, but would easily fool a brutish Grimm. 

The flask still had a good deal of honey in it and would easily attract the ursa, so Lan placed the flask on top of the leaves above the pit, putting it as far as his arm would allow him, and then quickly dashed into some nearby bushes, crouched down and began waiting. A few seconds later he felt a cold wet nose touch his back and knew that Ignis had joined him. Now they just had to wait for the ursa to arrive. Minutes crept by slowly, Lan had begun to sweat and Ignis was crunching on a random object he had found. 

“Why the heck isn’t that ursa here yet?!” Lan thought after a few more minutes “he should have had plenty of time to--” 

Suddenly there was a shaking in the undergrowth on the left side of the clearing, and the ursa appeared, licking the honey that was drizzled on the grass. 

“Alright big guy” Lan thought “just a few more steps until you get the final prize….Doom! hehehe.”

The ursa continued to walk toward the pit licking up the honey, then suddenly stopped right in front of the pit, started sniffing, and then turned in Lan’s direction.   
“What the?” Lan thought,” Why isn’t it going for the flask of….”

It was then that he noticed that the flask wasn’t on the leaves. 

“Where the heck did….” he then realized with a sinking feeling in his stomach what it was that Ignis had found, he looked down at Ignis.

The young wolf looked up at him wagging its tail… the flask broken into pieces in his paws. 

“Oh you little piece of--”, Lan was cut off by the roaring that erupted from the ursa as it charged in his direction, noticing the two in the bushes. 

Lan and Ignis quickly darted in opposite directions, avoiding the charging Grimm by a hair. 

“No use blaming the little guy now” Lan thought, regaining his posture and turning to face the Grimm “I got to think of a plan.” 

The Grimm roared and charged at the boy, its red eyes fixed on its prey. Lan quickly pulled out two of the explosives, activated them and chucked them at the Grimm. The explosives flew at them Grimm, connected with its face, and burst into two small explosions. The Grimm jumped back a short distance shaking its head, slightly dazed. Taking the opportunity, Lan ran a bit farther ahead and hid behind a tree. The Grimm had now recovered and began prowling the area in search of its quarry. 

“Alright” Lan thought “what can I do now?” 

Quickly assessing the situation, Lan remembered that there were many smaller traps set around this area, they were crude traps that were only designed to deal a small bit of damage, but were good at stalling for time. He had set them up in case anything unexpected happened 

“Always have a contingency plan” Lan thought “Now I just need to plan the route and--”

A yipping sound suddenly interrupted his train of thought. He peeked out from behind the tree and was greeted by the sight of the Ignis cornered by the ursa. 

“He’s covered in the honey!” Lan realized “the ursa would’ve been able to find him easily!” 

Lan darted out from behind the tree, heading toward the ursa, that now had its back to him. The ursa stood up on its hind legs and raised one of its paws, ready to cut the young wolf down. Putting on an extra burst of speed, Lan leapt forward and slip between the ursa’s legs, striking its knees with his elbows to throw it slightly off balance. Then, once he saw the creature’s face, he threw up bomb that he had in his hand, which made contact with the ursa’s chin. In mid-swing and completely off guard, the ursa was knocked off balance by the explosion and fell onto its back. 

“Come on little buddy” Lan said to Ignis “We’ve got to run, and this time make sure you follow my instructions.”  
Ignis barked in understanding, then the two of them took off in the direction of the first trap, Lan explaining the strategy to Ignis, and the little puppy amazingly seemed to understand. The ursa was now back on its feet and began chasing after them, now completely enraged. 

“Alright” Lan said after a little while “get ready to split!”

The ursa was now gaining on them, much faster than the two young beings that it chased. 

“Now!” Lan yelled. 

The two of them then ran in opposite directions to the left and right of their previous course. This tactic confused the ursa for a few seconds, and in that time it ran past where the two friends had split up and with a click stepped onto a pressure pad. This triggered the release of a swinging log which came down directly in front of the ursa and caught it in the face. The ursa was thrown back several meters and collapsed on its back groaning. 

“Yes!” Lan exclaimed, several yards from the site of collision “Success!” 

But the ursa was quickly back on its feet again and turned towards Lan, its eyes glowing red with anger. 

“Uh Oh” Lan said, noting the short distance the ursa was from his current position. 

The ursa made a move to rush in Lan’s direction, but suddenly yelped and turned to look behind it. Ignis had snuck up behind it and had sunk his fangs into the Grimm’s posterior. The young wolf was now growling and shaking its head as his fangs pierced the ursa’s gluteus Maximus. The ursa turned and raised its arm to swat the little puppy. Lan quickly pulled out another explosive and hucked it at the ursa. The explosive came into contact with the ursa’s face seconds before it could brought its arm down. The blast once again disoriented the beast, and using that time Ignis detached his jaws and ran towards Lan. 

“Come on little buddy, more traps ahead” the two of them then took off running through the forest once again.   
.  
.  
.  
A half hour, a couple dozen traps, many wolf bites, and many explosives later, the two of them came back to the clearing where they the pit was located, the ursa had slowed considerably now due to the many wounds it had received from the many traps Lan had set. The two of them could hear it roaring some distance behind them, trying in vain to keep up. 

“Alright” Lan said panting, almost out of breath from all the running he had been doing “time for the coup de grace.”

Taking out his last few explosives, Lan activated them and buried them under a pile of leaves near the pit. Lan and Ignis then ran around to the other side of the pit and sat down to wait and recover. They didn’t have to wait long before they heard a crashing snapping noise which accompanied the ursa’s plodding into the clearing. By now it was covered in burn marks from Lan’s explosives, torn up from some lacerating traps, and covered in bruises from the blunt force ones. After shaking its head to clear away its exhaustion, it noticed Lan standing on the other side of the clearing and growled. 

“Come on you big teddy bear” Lan said in a mocking tone “Come and get us!”

Lan then turned around, dropped his pants and spanked his ass in the direction of the ursa. Enraged, the bear dashed forward roaring, determined to tear the boy apart… and stepped right onto the pile of leaves that concealed the bombs. The combined force of the explosives detonating all at once blasted the ursa a few feet into the air and, carried forward by its running momentum, the ursa sailed onto the leaves covering the hole and fell deep down into the maw of the pit. A few seconds later there was a resounding crash, accompanied by a grunt, and then the only noise audible from the pit was a shallow breathing noise. 

 

“Yahoo” Lan said, pulling his pants back on “It’s in!” 

Lan and Ignis then began dancing around the pit, celebrating their victory. 

“I was a little worried when you screwed up back there you little glutton” Lan finally said after a few minutes, patting Ignis on the head “But everything turned out A-Okay, now let’s get this ursa back to the village and…”

Lan suddenly heard a growling noise coming from right behind him, he whipped round and found himself staring face to face with an ursa major. 

“I thought it was unusual that nothing came after all the ruckus we made” Lan said, gulping “are you that guy’s mommy?”

The ursa roared and Lan turned around and tryied to sprint away before his was mauled, but then a large slamming noise erupted behind him along with a burst of wind. Lan turned around, and was greeted with a welcoming sight. Byakko stood there, on top of the crushed ursa with a big grin on his face. 

“Grandpa!” Lan said, relief filling his voice “you made it just in time!” Ignis yipped in approval that ran over and started licking Byakko’s legs. 

“Not really” Byakko said shrugging “I’ve been watching you for a few minutes now.” 

“What?” Lan said, his smile disappearing and being replaced by a look of perplexity “you mean you were watching all those times me and Ignis were about to get mauled?” 

“Yep!” Byakko said with his usual grating voice. “Was quite the show!”

Ignis made a confused sound and turned to look and Lan. Lan simply stared at his grandfather for a minute and then shrugged; things like this had become normal to him by now.

“But this was quite devious of you” Byakko said “preparing all of this in secret without telling any of us? For shame little man.” 

Lan looked down, embarrassed, then suddenly remembering his accomplishment, broke into a huge smile and looked up at Byakko. 

“So” Lan said in a nonchalant tone “I guess that means you saw the whole ordeal I went through to catch that ursa?” 

“Yeah” Byakko replied “and I must say that was really messy, I saw you make tons of mistakes, you were lucky that ursa didn’t tear you apart.”

“But still” Lan said smiling “I caught it, and now I can finish it off at any time.” 

Byakko looked over at the pit then back at Lan, then reached up and started scratching his head 

“I guess so.” Byakko said grinning, “So what now?” 

“I think you already know” Lan said, obviously excited “It’s aura time!” 

“Alright” Byakko said chuckling and shaking his head “Just finish off that ursa in the pit and we’ll head back to the village and tell everyone. I’m sure they’ll all be impressed, Heck they may even throw you a party!” Byakko said holding his chin between his thumb and forefinger “and after all the fun is done, then I’ll unlock your aura.” 

“Deal!” Lan exclaimed, jumping up and down “now I just gotta…” Lan reached into his pouch and found that he had ran out of explosives, “One sec” Lan said to Byakko, and took off into the forest. 

He came back later holding lots of little sacs of dust, pieces of string, what appeared to be many thin strips of plant substance, and a jar full of a sticky liquid. While Lan had been setting up the other traps, he had set up small supply caches throughout the area in case he needed them to enhance some of the current traps. 

“You better give back everything you borrowed after we’re done” Byakko said “a lot of the villagers have been missing things they needed.” 

“Right after my aura is unlocked” Lan said, placing everything down on the floor “I’ll be able to gather them up more easily that way.”

He then set about putting together a large explosive from the materials, cutting strips of cloth with his knife, lashing them around the sacks of dust, gluing everything together with the paste, and putting in the fuse. Amazingly he finished it after just a few minutes. 

“Will you hurry it up?” Byakko said, now laying down and propping his head up with his hand “We got a celebration to plan” 

“One moment” Lan said hefting up the large bomb “I just need to light it”

Lan then walked over to the bomb, picked it up, and carried it over to the pit. He dropped the bomb right at the edge, pulled out a pair of spark rocks from his pouch, and then began striking them together near the fuse. After a few tries the fuse ignited, lighting up like a holiday sparkler. 

“Bombs Away!” Lan cried, giving the bomb a good kick. 

The explosive fell over the edge, and a few seconds later there was a grunt as it landed on the ursa. Preparing himself for the explosion soon to come, Lan took off running away from the pit as fast as his legs could carry him and hid behind the largest most solid object he could find… his grandpa’s back. A minute passed and everything remained quiet. Lan peeked out from behind Byakko and stared at the pit. 

“Hmmm…I guess I made a mistake with wrapping the--” he was cut off mid-sentence as a huge blast burst from the pit, breaking the ground around it and sending a column of flame and dust up into the air. The soot shot out in all directions and covered everything surround the hole, including Byakko, and the parts of Lan that were peeking out from behind him. Byakko, with the front part of his body completely black, got up walked over to the pit and stared down into it. He then whipped around and stuck out both his thumbs in Lan’s direction. 

“It’s GOOD!” he said with a big grin on his face. 

“Woohoo!” Lan responded, jumping up and down. 

“Time to head back now” Byakko said, picking Lan and Ignis up and setting them on his shoulder “we’ve got to show everyone the new hero!” 

Then with speed much faster than the eye could detect, Byakko dashed out of the clearing and headed back towards the village, making sure to drop off Ignis at the tree cave on the way.  
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“You Idjit!” Gregory yelled at the top of his lungs “What the hell did we say!? Don’t leave the boy alone and for heaven’s sake—” 

“Oh will you shut already” Byakko yelled back cleaning one of his ears with a pinky finger “He’s fine isn’t he?”

Byakko and Lan had just arrived back at the village half an hour ago, and after they finished filling everybody in on the details, Gregory began yelling at the two of them about how insensitive and stupid they both were. While Gregory and Byakko had begun the usual routine of Gregory yelling his ass off and Byakko not listening to a single word, Anna had taken Lan aside and talked to him about his irresponsible actions. At first Lan had tried to justify his actions, but Anna’s calm yet sad gaze and the worry in her voice eventually broke through his indignation and brought his remorse to the surface. 

“Don’t ever do something so reckless again” Anna said “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something had happened to you.”

“I’m sorry” Lan said, a tear trickling down the side of his face “I’ll make sure to act more responsibly from now on.”

Anna smiled and brought Lan into a loving embrace. 

“I know you will” she said with smile. 

While the two of them had been talking Byakko had grabbed Gregory and was presently wrestling with him, much to Gregory’s ire.

“But it is truly astounding that such a young child was able to best a creature of Grimm” Hiroshi said, stroking his chin “It truly is a miracle, and I believe the boy should be rewarded for such an accomplishment.” 

“Yeah!” Byakko said, currently holding Gregory in a headlock “Let’s have a party!” 

“I don’t like rewarding such reckless behavior” Anna said hesitation in her voice “But it is true that it was quite the accomplishment….Alright then! I’ll head to the kitchen and whip up some of my specials.” 

“WHOOHOO!” Byakko yelled, bending his back and shooting his right index finger into the air. 

 

“Will you let go of me already you overgrown hairball” said Gregory, struggling to be released from the headlock “Your pits smell worse than a sick goat’s ass!”

A few minutes later Hiroshi had gathered the rest of the village, and they all began preparing for the festivities. The more able bodied began putting up decorations, and the more mentally focused began planning for the party. The whole village was in fervor; it wasn’t often that they had something to celebrate. Old men and women of all backgrounds and were ethnicities running throughout the village working hard on what they needed to do. Lan looked over everybody and smiled. He was confident that nowhere else in the world was as cooperative and friendly as the little town here. Byakko was running into and out of the village constantly, bringing the ingredients Anna needed, Hiroshi was directing all the other villagers on what they should work on, Gregory was nagging the crap out of anyone who got a bit lazy, and everybody else was working hard together. Lan had noticed something over the years he had been in the village. There weren’t any signs of racism or any other kinds of discrimination. The village had old people of every race and ethnicity from all over Remnant, including many different Faunus but not once did a fight break out over racial issues. He had read many books over the 2 years about the many conflicts that happened in the world on a daily basis, especially the extreme hatred that many humans held toward the Faunus. He had never really understood why they held such animosity towards each other because here in this village humans and Faunus lived together in harmony, albeit they were all old people who were less inclined to judge. In the village, the Faunus were able to handle the more physically demanding tasks more easily than their human counterparts, and the humans provided intellectual expertise in many matters, due to them having more access to education during their younger years. 

“But I guess how a person is raised has a big impact on how they see things.”

With that thought finished, Lan ran off to help an old ferret Faunus put up decorations around the village square and help with anything else that he could.  
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A few hours later the preparations were finished, and everyone had gathered in the square. Hiroshi walked up to a podium and began addressing everyone. 

“It is my great pleasure to hold the position of master of ceremonies this fine day. Our young ward Lan has successfully defeated his first Grimm!” This announcement was greeted with a huge cheer from the crowd, Lan being patted on the back and congratulated by anyone in arms reach. “And as promised” Hiroshi continued “Later this evening Byakko will be unlocking his aura and begin training him in its use!” another round of cheering. 

“Lan please come up to the stage” Hiroshi called, beckoning to Lan. 

Lan quickly disengaged himself from the crowd and ran up to the stage. Hiroshi walked over to Lan, placed both hands on his shoulders, and stared him straight in the eyes. “After tonight, you will begin to walk down the path of a warrior and by walking down this path you must dedicate yourself to the great virtues that have defined the greatest heroes.”

Lan nodded his head, and continued staring into Hiroshi’s eyes, with a big grin on his face. 

“I’m sure you already know of them, but to make sure you never forget I shall drill them one last time into your mind.” Hiroshi then took a deep breath and began listing the virtues “Honor, Justice, Compassion, Fortitude, Temperance…” Hiroshi listed off many different virtues, and standing there in the middle of the village with everyone’s attention on him, Lan committed every single one of them to memory. 

Never in his life would he ever forget them, and he vowed that he would live by these virtues no matter what he encountered during. Once Hiroshi finished, he patted Lan once more on the shoulders, then returned to the podium. 

“Now I believe I have spoken more than enough” Hiroshi shouted “Let the festivities begin!” 

This was greeted by a huge cheer from the crowd, and with that everyone headed off to either get food or be entertained by one of the many events that they had set up earlier. Accompanying all of this was Edgar and the members of his various musical groups, playing an assortment of music of many different genres. 

Lan walked around with a cup of apple cider in his hand and watched his beloved grandparents going wild with the festivities. Gregory and Anna were dancing together on the lawn, Byakko was gorging himself on the many delicacies that covered the party table, Rowan was operating many of the entertainment devices (went a little too crazy with the fireworks though), and Hiroshi was cracking open a jar of a strange smelling liquid that the villagers said was “To early for you, Lan.” After observing everyone a little bit more, Lan threw all formality to the wind and leapt into the fray. He danced, ate, played, and even performed a few songs with Edgar. The party was marvelous, and would be one Lan remembered for the rest of his life as the start of what would be his long journey.

Things began slowing down after a few hours after the majority of the villagers had drunk many cups of the foul smelling beverages, and were now red in the face and saying many comical things. At that point Lan wandered away from the party and walked over to one of the ledges overlooking the sea. It was night now, and the view from where he stood was beautiful. The moon was full, the sky was full of stars and the sea was calm, reflecting the heavens above perfectly. Lan sat there for a while, enjoying the crisp and clear night air while drinking one of Anna’s homemade sodas, completely content with the world as it was. He then heard a loud thump behind him. He turned around and was greeted by the sight of Byakko taking a long drink out of a large porcelain jar; he was very red in the face and had the strong odor of the strange drink (which Lan later learned to be called alcohol) all over him. 

“Ah” Byakko sighed, a large puff of steam expelled from his mouth “Wah a vonderful might” 

“Are you okay grandpa?” Lan said, curious about his grandfather’s strange speaking pattern. 

“Me? I’m vreat” Byakko replied, swaying slightly “Buh I shink I’m a wittle dwunk, wash shome weally good vine, bwut I bwetter shober up, we gotsh to unlock yer auwa pwetty soon.”

Draining the last of the liquid, Byakko stood up, walked over to the cliff and dove into the sea water below, entering the expanse with a loud splash. Lan gazed over the edge where Byakko had jumped off. He waited for several minutes, but Byakko still didn’t come back up. Worried, Lan got up and was about to run back to the village for help. Suddenly the sea in front of him exploded and a giant pillar of water rose into the air. A few minutes later Byakko landed with a crash back on the cliff, dripping wet and with the remains of fish covering his mouth. 

“Brrrrr” he said smiling and shaking himself “just what I needed to clear the head!” 

Quickly turning his head to the side, Byakko opened his mouth and ejected a large amount of stomach fluid onto the grass.

“Ahhh!” Lan cried, jumping away to avoid the smelly liquid “What are you doing?” 

After ejecting the last drops of the liquid, Byakko wiped his mouth and turned back to Lan. 

“Just getting the hangover done with early.” He said with a belch “Come on, let’s get back to the square. It’s time for tonight’s big event.” 

The two of them then began walking back to the center of the festival, Lan keeping his distance from Byakko in case anything else disgusting happened.  
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Lan and Byakko now stood on a stage with the entire village surrounding them and watching (many through drunken eyes) with anticipation. Byakko’s air of jubilation was gone now and was replaced with a powerful serious atmosphere.

“Aura” Byakko began, the craziness gone his voice and replaced with a powerful calm “is the manifestation of our souls, and, along with dust, allows us to battle the Grimm.”

There were shouts of approval from members of the crowd, and to emphasize his point, the villagers who were able to use aura began glowing different colors, a few of them also raised their arms into the air.

“Even with the power of dust to aid us we would be helpless without the power within us all, the great wellspring within our souls that allows us to become true warriors. And today” Byakko said, spreading out his arm “you join us.” 

Byakko then linked his fingers together and extended them out, making a cracking noise, while Lan looked at him excitedly. 

“Well then” said Byakko “Let’s rock.”

A brilliant white light began emanating from Byakko’s body, putting the brightest lamps in the area to shame and bathing every person in its brilliant glow. Byakko then extended his index finger and touched Lan’s forehead. The light entered into his, and warmth spread throughout every corner of Lan’s body as the energy flowed through him, unlocking the power hidden within the recesses of his body. 

“Hoh!” Byakko said grinning as he sensed some abnormalities in Lan’s aura “It seems your aura is already slightly unlocked, I guess in a few more years you would have unlocked it naturally! Hmmm?” 

Byakkko noticed something strange in Lan’s aura, but couldn’t tell what.

At this point Lan’s body was beginning to glow a bluish color, slowly growing brighter, then all of a sudden the light died out. Byakko stared at the boy, his surprise making him forget his previous observation. 

“Hey Lan What’s—”, before Byakko finished his comment, a huge wave of energy blasted out of Lan in all directions, sending everyone except Byakko flying away. 

The energy formed a kind of bubble around Lan, and the majority of it was shooting into the sky, forming a giant, pulsating, blue pillar of energy.

“Ohoh” Byakko said, planting his feet “that’s some serious aura!” 

Clouds began forming where the light met the sky, and the sky began rumbling as rain began to fall, as if to signal the beginning of a storm. Oblivious to the chaos around him, Lan stared straight up into his sky, feeling his whole body changing, the energy pouring out like a damned up river that had just been released. His eyes were glowing with a blue light now, and through them he began seeing visions of many strange things. He saw black shadows flying through the sky, he saw the shapes of animals running about frantically, he saw fire raging through places he never knew, and he saw the faces of people he had never met. Innumerable fantastic sight crossed his eyes, but shining above them all, far away at what he saw to be the top of the pillar were the things that held his mind with the greatest sway. 

“It looks like the boy’s aura is fully released” Byakko thought “But I better stop this output now, no telling what could happen if too much gets released!”

Focusing his aura into his fingers Byakko began striking certain points on Lan’s body, stabilizing the raging energy within him. With the energy beginning to settle down, the light that emanated from Lan’s body began to fade and the pillar of light began to disappear. Lan felt exhausted now, every inch of his body numb. He began to tip over, but Byakko quickly dashed forward and caught him in his arms. 

“Easy boy, you feeling okay?”

The villagers now came running back, all of them concerned over Lan’s wellbeing, but Lan didn’t hear any of the words that they spoke to him, his eyes were still transfixed far above him. His consciousness began to fade at this point, and his eyelids started growing heavy. He struggled to stay awake, to keep looking at that magical sight above, the majestic vision that entrance the entirety of his being. But it was no use, his eyelids began to droop, and his mind began to lose its grip on reality. Determined to never forget the sight, Lan burned it into his memory before his consciousness grew any duller. It was important, that was all he knew and would be something that he saw in his dreams every night from that day on and would influence his every waking minute. What was the sight that he tried to so hard to keep? It wasn’t particularly amazing compared to the many other marvels that danced across his vision, but Lan felt that it was the most significant, something that he felt intrinsically linked to. Although, he didn’t quite understand how it was important though, after all, it was just a simple set of 4 different colored lights. Red, White, Black, and Yellow. The last of his strength spent, Lan passed out in Byakko’s arms and began too dream.  
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Thousands of miles away in a torn dead land a dark army was gathering. Grimm of every kind was coming to this land, ordering themselves into a writhing black sea. The same was happening in the skies as winged shapes flew in tight formations. Standing above them were two dark shadows that seemed to be directing the other Grimm, the shadows were human in shape and were communicating with each other. Suddenly, the shadow with the most spikes on its back twitched and turned and stared far into the distance, sensing a familiar energy. It gave a low angry growl, discovering that its previous mission had not yet been completed. It then turned back towards the seething mass of darkness below it and let out an ear-splitting roar. The Grimm below all turned towards it. The creature then pointed in the direction and hissed. The Grimm below responded by ordering themselves into formations, and stood at attention. The two dark shadows at the top of the hill then began walking in the direction of the village, the malignant army following.


	5. Chapter 5

Ch 5 Prelude to the storm  
It has been 5 months since Lan’s aura was unlocked by Byakko. Recognizing the potential the boy had, Byakko began teaching Lan many aura based combat techniques, mostly basic techniques, as well as continuing his regular training. Thanks to the use of aura, Lan has advanced tremendously in his combat abilities, now able to take on an ursa with his bare hands. He has also excelled in the other skills he was learning from the villagers, although he had dropped some more classes due to their uselessness in real world settings, and began focusing more time and effort on others. Ignis has also began his growth spurt and is now the size of a golden retriever, he is no longer able spar with Lan any more however due to Lan’s increased abilities (these days Lan does 1v1 spars with the adult wolves.) but the two have them have maintained their strong friendship and continue to interact every day. Lan has also become interested in many kinds of weapons recently and has learned how to make and use some, in fact he has dug through the libraries collections of weapon manufacturing books as well as many old magazines on the topic. He had been living every day growing and learning, but today he will receive a pleasant yet somewhat unnerving surprise.  
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Lan was standing in the middle of a glade, staring down Ernest the current leader of the wolves. Lan had already challenged and defeated many of the other members of the pack and had decided he was ready to challenge the top. Byakko had decided to arrange a match between the two and now presided over the event as a judge of sorts, he was however taking his post…seriously as he has wearing a large kimono and was holding what appeared to be a large fan. The glade was surrounded by the rest of the pack, howling and growling in anticipation. Byakko raised his right hand and the pack quieted down. 

“Are you ready Lan?” Byakko asked Lan 

“Yes sir!” Lan replied with great vigor. Byakko then turned to Ernest 

“Are you ready Ernest?” 

Ernest responded with loud bark. 

“Alright then. Fight!” Byakko shouted, dropping his arm. 

Ernest shot forwards towards Lan, leaped into the air, and dove at him like a missile. Lan shifted his stance and dodged Ernest’s lunge by a few inches, then before Ernest hit the ground, Lan brought up his fist, infused with aura, and struck the wolf in the stomach with an uppercut. Ernest was blasted backwards by the blast, but before he flew too far away from Lan he brought down one of his claws, aiming at Lan’s face. Lan intercepted this blow with one of his arms, and nullified the blow with a shield of aura. Ernest flew through the air a few feet, quickly orienting himself back into standing position, and then landed on his feet. Taking this time, Lan dashed forward to close the distance. Ernest was angry now, and was beginning to glow a red color. Recognizing this Lan began to proceed more cautiously. He had recently found out Ernest’s breed of wolves are called Rage wolves, and have the ability to use aura whenever they grow angry enough, which increases their strength and speed exponentially. Using his now enhanced power, Ernest bolted forward and smashed into Lan, throwing him off balance. Then using his high speed, Ernest began using a hit and run tactic where he began tackling Lan from all directions. 

“Ernest is much faster than the other wolves” Lan thought, hardening his aura struggling to defend himself “No wonder he’s the leader.” 

The attacks were starting to affect Lan now, he was starting to get tired from using his aura to reduce the damage. 

“Calm down” Lan thought to himself “He’s too fast to follow with your eyes. Sense where he’s going to be next, like grandpa always says: nothing beats instinct.” 

There was a pattern in Ernest’s attacks, Lan could sense that. After receiving all the blows that he had, Lan was now able to deduce from where Ernest would attack him. Right as the wolf was about to strike him again, Lan threw a low kick and intercepted one of Ernest’s front legs. This blow threw off Ernest’s balance and sent him flying head over tail onto his back a few meters away. Ernest got up again, slightly disoriented. Using this opportunity Lan dashed forward and began unloading a flurry of punches at Ernest’s face, each strike infused with a measure of aura and aimed mainly at the neck and chest areas since Lan was shorter than Ernest. Lan then slammed his front most foot into the ground and used it as a pivot to throw an explosive uppercut which sent Ernest flying back a good dozen meters. Ernest quickly got up again and turned to face Lan, he was breathing hard now, obviously damaged from the previous volley. 

“What do you say we finish this?” Lan said smiling “We don’t have all day.” 

Lan then began channeling most of his aura into his hands, foregoing any form of defense and preparing for a heavy blow. Ernest growled. He wasn’t going to let this pup make fun of him; he would take the challenge head on. Ernest began to gather his aura to the front of his body, his fangs beginning to glow a bright red color. The two stared at each other in silence for two moments. Lan then shifted himself into a punching stance as if about to throw smash. Taking the movement as provocation, Ernest launched himself forward, his aura streaming around him and making him seem almost like a meteorite. If the attack hit, Lan would be more than just hurt. Just as the two were about to collide, instead of throwing a punch, Lan launched his arm backwards in an ark, bringing the tips of his fingers close to the ground, and then he brought up his other arm with an aura enforced palm and struck Ernest from below. This technique struck Ernest’s field of energy and redirected the majority of the force diagonally upwards, throwing Ernest off balance and canceling his attack. Then using the momentum of the blow, Lan stepped in, turned around and placed his back against Ernest’s chest. Lan then channeled all of his aura that was in his hands into his back, and thrust his back forward releasing his aura as well. This produced a massive shockwave which blasted Ernest all the way to the other end of the glade where he crashed into a tree and fell down, completely still. 

Byakko leapt from where he was sitting and was by Ernest’s side in less than a second. 

“He’s still breathing” Byakko said after a few minutes of diagnosis “But I’ll need to heal him a little bit.” 

Byakko then started glowing white and touched Ernest’s hide. The light flowed from the point of contact and spread all over Ernest’s body, healing whatever wounds it encountered. Byakko then turned back to look at Lan. 

“Congratulations boy, YOU ARE THE VICTOR!” 

“Woohoo” Lan wheezed, extremely tired, he then fell down onto his back, his arms and legs spread far apart. 

“I…Think I need to rest a little while” Lan said weakly “That last attack really took a lot out of me.” 

“You have to be more careful with how much aura you use” Byakko replied “it is both your shield and your spear. How you ration it could be the key to victory or defeat. Also, don’t get swollen head just cause you beat Ernest one on one. Wolves are a million times stronger when they attack in a pack!” 

“But that was an interesting move the kid used” Byakko thought, turning back to Ernest “I never taught him that one, and he seemed to use it so naturally. I guess that’s his natural fighting style then.” 

Byakko knew that teaching Lan his fighting style would actually be detrimental to the boy at that moment. He wanted the boy to reach his full potential though, so he started to think about any one of his friends that used that type of style who could possibly teach the boy. After a few minutes, still no one had come to mind though. 

“Oh well” Byakko thought, standing up “I’ll think about it later.” 

With a happy yipping sound Ignis leapt out of the now dispersing group of wolves and ran over to Lan. 

“Hey buddy look I wo--” before Lan could finish Ignis proceeded to cover him in a layer of saliva and then started to hump his leg. 

“Agh!” Lan exclaimed, struggling “cut that out boy, I’m tired.”

“Alright Lan” Byakko said chuckling “I think that’s enough manly love time with little Ignis. Time to head back to the village.” 

“Alright” Lan said, finally prying Ignis off his leg and standing up “Let’s go”

The two of them then headed back to the village with Ignis barking his goodbyes.  
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“So how are your cooking skills coming?” 

Byakko inquired as the two of them neared the village. 

“Pretty good” Lan replied “Grandma says that I’m starting to become as good as a three-star chef now and—”. 

Lan fell silent as they entered the village. The villagers were currently crowded in the center square yammering about something. Lan and Byakko dashed over to see what was going on. 

“Lan, Byakko!” Anna cried as she saw them “You’re here!” 

“What’s going on?” Lan inquired. 

“A few hours after you two left for training a young boy wandered into the village” Anna replied “he was bleeding all over, one of his arms was broken, and the other was just a stump. He kept murmuring something about doom, and when one of the villagers went to help him he passed out in his arms.” 

“Well, where is he now?” Lan asked. 

“He’s in doctor Krueger’s home at the north of the village, but I don’t suggest you go yet, he’s currently in the operating room.” 

“Okay” Lan said reluctantly. 

“Now don’t you worry” Byakko said, patting Lan on the back, “You know how good of a doctor Krueger is, he’s a miracle worker who can fix almost anything. Now come on, you got lessons now. We’ll tell you as soon as the kid wakes up.” 

Lan nodded then headed to Rowan’s for his engineering lesson.   
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A few hours later, Lan was reading in the library when he heard that the boy had come to. He quickly headed for doctor Krueger’s home. Dr. Krueger’s home was a medium-sized gothic style building. Lan knocked on the door and after hearing a quiet “Come in” entered Dr. Krueger’s home. The inside of Krueger’s home was a mixture of a medical center and a normal home, with one half of the house containing his living quarters and the other half containing medical rooms and storage chambers. Lan walked into the living quarters and headed upstairs to the recovery room. When he entered the room, he saw Krueger sleeping in a chair at one end of the room and the boy in bed at the other end. The boy appeared to be a squirrel Faunus, due to his large front teeth, oddly shaped eyebrows, brown hair, and a large poofy tail that was poking out of the sheets. He was currently wearing a white patient’s shirt, had a pair of large pair spectacles sitting on his face, was bandaged in many places, and had his remaining arm fit in a cast. He also appeared to be around Lan’s age. He was currently being fed pasta made with a special nut sauce, by Anna who was also asking him various questions. 

“How’s the patient doing?” Lan asked, stepping into the room. 

“He’s seems to be doing well now” Anna replied, turning to face Lan. 

“He’s got his appetite back and can start talking again.” 

The boy turned to look at Lan and gave him a weak smile. 

“How’s it going” Lan said “What’s your name?” 

The boy’s smile vanished and a confused, desperate look took its place. 

“The boy doesn’t seem to remember anything” Anna said sighing “It seems the shock of whatever happened to him has given him amnesia. We can only hope his memory comes back soon.” 

Lan walked over to the boy, looked him in the eyes and smiled. 

“Take all the time you need buddy” he said “we’ve got all the time in the world.” 

The boy gave a tentative nod; he then gave a big yawn and snuggled into the blankets. 

“It seems the boy needs more rest” Anna said, wiping the boy’s face with a napkin and getting up “come on Lan let’s not—”. 

A banging, crashing sound came from the front door, and was followed by a loud stomping noise. The door to the room flew open and slammed onto the wall with a loud crash. Byakko stood there, his usual giant grin situated on his face. 

“Hey!” he yelled out “I heard the kid woke up. How’s the little guy doing?” 

Not yet mentally stable, the boy was in no way prepared for the giant muscular man’s barging into the room. 

“Ahhhhhhhhh!” the boy screamed. He then burrowed deeper into the covers where he continued screaming and began crying. 

“Oh, now look what you’ve done you brute!” Anna said angrily “You’ve gone and scared the boy!” 

“What?” Byakko said indignantly “That’s nonsense, how am I scary?” 

Lan could have pointed out many scary things about his grandfather including his scars, intense face, and harsh voice. But contented himself with giving his grandfather an uncomfortable blank stare. Ignoring it, Byakko walked over to the bed, whipped off the blanket, and picked up the sobbing boy. 

“Quit crying already!” Byakko yelled, which only triggered the boy to cry even louder. 

“Put him down Byakko!” Anna yelled “You’re not calming him down; you’re just making it worse!” Ignoring her Byakko began bombarding the boy with questions, all of which triggered the boy to cry even more. 

“Oh for the love of, you can’t even remember you’re damn na—”. 

Byakko was cut off as Anna struck him over the head with a steel washbasin she had found nearby. The impact made a large dent in the basin and finally shut Byakko up. 

“Agh” Byakko said, rubbing his head with his free hand “What the heck did you do that f—” he was interrupted as Anna began bashing him over and over again, the sound resonating through the room like a percussion ensemble. 

“Gah, alright alright, I’ll leave!” 

Byakko then put the boy down and dashed out of the room, leaving the house with a slam of the door. Anna sighed, and then turned to comfort the boy who was now whimpering and curled into a fetal position. 

“Lan, dear, wake up doctor Krueger, we may need him to dispense some calming medicine” She said, petting the young boy.

Lan walked over to him and was amazed that to find that Dr. Krueger had been able to sleep through all that ruckus, but on closer inspection Lan discovered that the old man had earplugs on. Lan then proceeded to gently shake the doctor awake. 

“Huh? Wha?” Doctor Kruger said, pulling the earplugs out and opening his eyes “What’s going on?” 

“Anna needs your help calming the kid down” Lan replied “Byakko just came in and riled him all up.” 

“Ah” Dr. Krueger said, awareness returning to his eyes “Give me a minute while I go grab some tranquilizer”

Dr. Krueger walked over to a cabinet, rummaged around for a few minutes, and came back holding a small green pill. By this time the boy had calmed slightly, but was still slightly shaky and was cuddling Anna while she patted his head and hummed. 

“Here boy” Dr. Krueger said, holding out the pill “This will help you calm down.” 

The boy eyed the pill for a few seconds, then slowly reached out a trembling hand, grabbed it, brought it up to his mouth, and swallowed it. After a few minutes his trembling stopped, and the fear disappeared from his eyes. 

He then looked up at Anna and said with a timid voice “I th-think I re-membered my na-me”. 

“Ah” Lan thought “The shock Byakko gave him must have triggered some memory recovery.” 

“Well” Lan said approaching the boy “What is it?” 

“S-Sammy” the boy said timidly. 

“Hmm, Sammy the squirrel boy, that’s got a nice ring to it” Lan said jokingly. 

Sammy blushed, and then proceeded to crawl under his blankets. 

“Now, Lan” Anna said with a huff “Don’t tease the boy”. 

Dr. Krueger approached Sammy lifted up the quilt and looked him in the eye. 

“Do you remember anything else about what happened to you?” he said with an intense stare “The kinds of injuries you sustained only happen in the worst of situations.” 

“N-no” Sammy said looking down “I-I d-don’t r-remember anything else …except…except.”   
The boy began trembling again, his calm fading away like mist in the hot sun “Shadow” he whimpered “monster….. Monster!” he screamed, he then began thrashing around and screaming more. Anna rushed over to try and comfort him, but he knocked her hand away and continued to scream. 

With a deft movement, Krueger pulled out a needle and stuck it into the side of the boy’s neck. The boy instantly relaxed and fell onto the bed. 

“Krueger!” Anna said, appalled, “How could you do that to such a young boy?” 

“Relax Anna” Kruger said, removing the needle “He’s just asleep, I just hit an acupuncture point that causes the brain to mass produce melatonin and—” 

Ignoring him Anna knelt down beside the boy and began checking him, after a few minutes she stood up with a relieved look on her face. 

“Let’s be going now Lan” she said turning to face him “before something else crazy happens.” 

She then tucked Sammy in and walked out of the room. Lan turned to follow, but paused and turned around. 

“Hey Dr. Krueger?” Lan asked “Can you teach me that acupuncture stuff in our next first aid lesson?” 

Dr. Krueger smiled and nodded. With that, Lan skipped out of the room and headed back towards the library. Once he was alone Dr. Krueger began analyzing the boy’s words, monster and doom. There was only one thing that was generically related to those words. 

“The boy must have had a run in with the creatures of Grimm,” He thought, stroking his white goatee “but for him to have made it here he must have been attacked nearby.” 

The nearest settlement was a Faunus village more than 30 miles away, the boy could have come from there. But the village had capable warriors who had been able to keep the village safe for years. 

“Something must be different about the Grimm that attacked them” Dr. Krueger thought, “I just hope we don’t have run in with them.” 

Dr. Krueger, then stood up, checked to make sure that Sammy was okay, and then left the room. 

“It’ll be fine as long as Byakko is here” he thought “nothing can take that old coot down” 

Feeling reassured, Dr. Krueger headed to his bedroom for a nice long nap.  
.  
.  
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The two dark shadows stood at the top of a mountain staring down at the village of Longa Cinere, their army was in a low valley behind them, awaiting their orders. It had been a long six month trek to get to this location, and along the way they had erased any signs of man that they came across, from convoys, to small villages. Their most recent raid had been on a Faunus village, the warriors there had put up a decent fight when they fought against the normal Grimm, but once the humanoid Grimm joined the fray they were defeated in seconds. Afterwards, the Grimm had destroyed the village and killed every Faunus they could find; only one had escaped, a young boy who had been escorted by one of the warriors. The Grimm found them of course, wounded the child, and killed the warrior who held the Grimm back long enough for the boy to escape. And now they had found him again, together with their quarry. The Grimm with the single spike in its chest turned to rally the other Grimm, but was suddenly stopped by the other humanoid Grimm. The Grimm felt great power emanating from the village, power that gave the impression of a brilliant white beast, power that felt as ancient as the ground they stood upon. If they attacked now they would easily be defeated by that being. But they had time to spare, the being would have to leave the boy eventually, and at that point they would strike. They had plenty of time to spare as well; after all, they were beings of darkness whose only purpose was to return mankind to the dust. For that purpose, they had to get rid of that boy no matter what, and would wait for their chance, no matter how long it would take. 

Back in the village Byakko sneezed, and gazed over his shoulder at the nearby mountains, feeling as though something was amiss, but quickly brushed it off as pickled fish he ate this morning. He was starting to understand Lan’s fighting style and natural talents better and knew that his fighting style wasn’t right for the boy. He was currently going through a list of his old friends, trying to find the perfect teacher for Lan. After he decided on who it would be, he planned to leave the village for a short time and convince him to teach the boy. 

“I’ve got to make sure the kid’s got a bright future” Byakko mumbled, and continued going down the list of names, clueless as to what his leaving would bring.


	6. Chapter 6

Ch 6 It begins  
1 month later.  
Sammy was running through the forest, breathing hard. It was on his tail and gaining fast, he could hear its feet stomping on the ground less than a dozen yards away. He began zigzagging around tress and running a confusing pattern, hoping to throw it off of his trail. After a few minutes the stomping disappeared. Sammy continued running for a few more minutes and then stopped once he entered a clearing. He then doubled over, wheezing and trying to catch his breath.

“I finally lost him” he thought “no way he’ll find me no—”

At that moment a dark shape leapt out of the bushes to his right and tackled him. Sammy screamed in fright and brought up his hands to protect his face. But the beast pushed its snout through, brought its mouth close to Sammy…. And began to lick his face.

“Okay, okay” Sammy said laughing “You caught me Ignis, now I’m it.”

The small wolf hound yipped with satisfaction, and then dashed off into the undergrowth once again. Sammy got up shaking his head and smiling, he then proceeded to brush off his bushy tail.  
“Hey Sammy!” someone shouted in a mocking voice “over here!”

Sammy jumped in surprise and turned to look up into tree where the voice had come from. Standing there was Lan, with a smug look on his face. The two of them, along with the local wolf pack, were currently playing a game of tag. 

Thanks to Dr. Krueger’s ingenious medical techniques, Sammy had fully recovered only two weeks after he was checked in. Afterwards, Rowan had made Sammy a special nerve-linked mechanical arm that was filled with many gadgets and tricks, although not as many as Rowan wanted because the other villagers didn’t want Sammy’s arm to be a ticking time bomb (both literally and metaphorically). Sammy and Lan had become fast friends since they were the only children in the village and now spent many afternoons playing together. Sammy had also become very interested in engineering and had started taking lessons alongside Lan. Much to Lan’s chagrin, Sammy had soon surpassed him in the class prompting Lan too double his effort in it and too poke fun at Sammy on certain occasions. Sammy had a bowl cut haircut, had on an earth-brown t-shirt, a pair of tan shorts with a hole in it for his tail, and orange sandals. Lan had his usual messy and unkempt hairstyle, was wearing a custom dark blue karate gi that looked ripped in a few places and was given to him by Byakko, and as always Lan wore no shoes.

“You really suck at this” Lan said in a teasing manner “Everybody else can outrun Ignis.”

“Shut up!” Sammy yelled back “I may not be as fit as you guys are, but I can more than make up for it with this!”

Pressing a button on his prosthetic arm Sammy fired the hand of his fake arm like a grappling hook, which was connected to the rest of his arm with a thick wire, at the branch Lan was standing on. Lan jumped out of the way as the hand grabbed onto the tree branch, and leapt onto another one. Sammy then pressed another button on his arm, which reeled in the wire and pulled him towards and onto the branch. After he scrambled onto it he stood up and turned to face Lan.

“nah nah nah nah nah” Lan shouted, making a mocking gesture with his hands. He then took off, jumping from tree limb to tree limb faster than a wild monkey. Sammy began chasing after him with his grappling arm. The two of them flew through the forest, zipping by at high speeds. Sammy’s natural squirrel like instincts allowed him to move through the trees with high levels of precision, but no matter how hard he tried, he could never catch up to Lan. 

“Come on Sammy” Lan shouted behind him “I thought squirrels were supposed to be masters of the trees.”  
“I am” Sammy shouted back “You’re just too fast, I can’t catch a ninja boy like you!”

“Martial artist” Lan corrected, upside in midair and holding his two legs apart in a half-split.

After a few more minutes of trying to catch him, Sammy knew he would never catch up at this rate. 

“Try using your brain a little more” Sammy thought to himself, “if you can’t catch him with physical ability try something else.”

Sammy thought for a moment, and then suddenly came up with a plan. He pretended to detect a scent in the air by sniffing.

“Hey Lan” Sammy yelled “It smells like dinner’s ready!”  
“Really?” Lan said checking his watch “That was fast, Let’s go.”

Lan jumped down from the tree onto the ground, and began running back towards the village.

Dropping on the ground, Sammy began running after Lan, who was currently traveling slower than how he was when he was zipping through the trees. Once he was close enough, Sammy pressed a button on his arm which activated a propulsion system (Rowan added it in secret and only told Sammy about it) which launched him towards Lan at a tremendous speed.

“Gotcha now” Sammy thought while he stretched out his arm.  
Just as Sammy was about to tag him, Lan suddenly jumped to the side. Unable to stop his momentum, Sammy shot past, crashed into a tree, and landed on his back. 

“Wow” Lan said “when did you get a rocket booster?”

“How did you know what I was going to do?” Sammy shouted from the ground

Lan smiled and tapped his nose.  
“Grandpa trains every part of me” Lan said “right now my nose is about as sensitive as the average Faunus, and I didn’t smell any food, so it was pretty obvious you were trying to trick me and I decided to play along a little bit.”

“How do you train your sense of smell?” Sammy said getting up “It’s not a muscle.”

“By smelling lots of different things” Lan responded “Some pleasant…others not so much.”

At that moment they heard a lard clanging sound coming from the direction of the village.

“Now, the food is done” Lan said, smiling and darted off towards the village.

“Hey wait for me!” Sammy yelled, staggering to his feet and taking off after him.

It was dinnertime now, and they had to get there fast before Byakko ate everything there.   
.  
.  
.  
Anna’s restaurant was packed. Almost everyone in the village tried to eat at Anna’s house whenever there were seats available, those who weren’t able to get tables either had to slink on home or to another lesser eatery. However, there were always a few seats reserved for her close personal friends, which included Byakko and the two boys. Today, however, one of the seats was empty. Lan had decided to help Anna deal with the dinner rush. 

“Order up” Lan shouted, placing two bowls of soba in front of two guests “two venison soba!” 

He then darted back into the kitchen with lightning speed to continue helping Anna cook and serve. 

“He sure is moving fast” said Sammy, who was sitting next to Rowan and watching the blue blur zip in and out of the kitchen.

“The kids been learning the ins and outs of the kitchen from Anna since the day he got here” said Rowan with a shrug “he’s also got all that physical training adding up too. What’s more surprising is that over there.” 

He pointed towards a table in the back of the room. Sitting at it was Byakko….hunched over a book and writing things down.

“In the twelve years that he’s been at this village, I have never once seen him open up a book, let alone write something down” Rowan said, slightly perturbed “Something is wrong, very very wrong.”

At that moment Lan burst out of the kitchen, laden down with over a dozen dishes. He then dashed to various parts of the room, dropping off the plates in front of their respective diners with amazing speed and not dropping even a speck of food. The last person on his route was Byakko, and as soon as he set down Byakko’s whole roast boar he turned to dash back into the kitchen. 

“Hold on a sec boy” Byakko said staring at the book in front of him, his hand shooting out and grabbing the back of the scruff of Lan’s neck “I need you to look at something.”

When Lan didn’t respond Byakko looked up from his papers and saw that with the way he had grabbed Lan’s collar, he had begun strangling him.

“Brain…growing…fuzzy” Lan thought as he struggled, trying to get free “Must…have…air!”

“Oops” Byakko said, releasing his grip “Sorry about that, but man your new gi must be made of some strong material. But then again I made it for you so that’s a given.”

Lan dropped to his knees and gasped for breath and then turned to look up at his grandpa. 

“What “pant” do you need?” Lan said his voice hoarse.

Byakko took a small piece of paper from his desk and some photos out of his clothes. 

“As both of us know” Byakko said in a serious voice “My fighting style isn’t suited to your natural abilities. So I am currently deciding which of my old friends would be the best teacher for you.”

Lan‘s eyes widened in alarm.

“Does this mean you aren’t going to train me anymore grandpa?”

“Of course I am” Byakko shouted back “I’m still going to be in charge of your body strengthening training. It’s just that one of these guys” Byakko said, patting the pictures with the back of his hand “is going to teach you skills and techniques!”

Lan sighed in relief, then looked up with interest at the photos Byakko held in his hand.

“Now I’ve narrowed the group down to these guys, they’re all top grade martial arts masters and were able to give me some difficulty back in the day” Byakko said handing Lan the pictures and note “take your pick.”

Lan read each of the master’s descriptions and fighting styles carefully. But before he had gone through them all, one strange picture caught his eye.

“Hey grandpa what’s thi—” 

“Oops, sorry” Byakko said, snatching up the picture “That’s a picture Johnny, the pet hippo of one of my old friends. I don’t know how that got in there.”

Shaking his head and rolling his eyes, Lan returned to looking at the profiles. After a few minutes he had decided and handed the selected photo to Byakko.

“Ah, good choice boy” Byakko said as he looked at the picture “Meng Zhang is probably the best out of all the guys in that pile and is the one I chose to have teach you. ”

“Chose?” Lan said confused “I thought I was supposed to pick?”

“No” Byakko said with a mischievous smile “I just wanted to see if you knew which kind of teacher was the best for you, and if you had gotten it wrong I would have head-butted you so hard that you wouldn’t even remember this conversation, then I would have repeated the process until you got it right!”

Turning away from Lan, whose mouth was currently hanging open, Byakko scribbled something down on a note next to him. He then turned his attention to the boar and began devouring it. 

“Lan!” Anna called from the kitchen “where are you?”

Snapping out of his shock, Lan ran back to the kitchen and shouted “Sorry grandma” as he burst through the door.  
¾ done with his boar, Byakko began to make travel plans. Now that Lan’s new teacher was settled, he would have to go and convince the old coot to come train the boy. Byakko began planning for the supplies he would need to bring and the route he would take. Meng Zhang lived in an ancient monastery far far away; it would take a while to get there even with his speed and possibly even longer to convince the man. Byakko looked down, and noticed that his plate was already empty. He then got up and headed for the kitchen too place some more orders, he (as always) would need his strength for the days ahead.  
.  
.  
.  
Three days later  
Byakko was standing at the exit of the village with an enormous backpack slung over his shoulders, as well as a black travel cloak. The other villagers had gathered to wish him a safe journey, Lan was standing at the head of the group, his face scrunched up and trying not to cry.

“Alright guys” Byakko yelled “I’ll probably be gone a week or two, and in that time you’ll need to keep the village safe. I’ve gathered tons of dust from natural deposits in the area and piled them by the force field generator. There should be enough to keep you all safe for months.”

Anna walked over and handed Byakko a jar of seasoning.  
“I know you’ll be missing my cooking while you’re gone” Anna said with a smile “so just sprinkle a little of this onto any meat that you roast and you’ll have something worthy of a 5-star meal.”

“Awww, Thanks” Byakko said, stuffing it into his pocket and scratching his head.

Byakko then knelt down and stared Lan in the eyes.   
“Don’t’ give me that look boy” Byakko said, noting Lan’s scrunched up face “Tears just make goodbye’s painful, and also, I’ll only be gone a few weeks at the most. I’ll be back before you know it, so suck those tears back into the ducts and give your grandpa a big goodbye hug!”

Lan nodded and, with notable effort and amazing bodily control, sucked his tears back into his ducts like he had been instructed to. He then leapt off the ground and wrapped his arms around Byakko’s neck. Byakko smiled and returned the gesture.

“Make sure you keep up your training while I’m gone” he said “I’ve written it all down in that scroll I gave you.”

“You mean those bunches of scribbles?” Lan said giggling.

“Wha-What” Byakko said with indignation “that is perfectly legible handwriting.”  
“It’s okay” Lan said, releasing his grip “I’ve already learned how to read that foreign language.” 

Everyone laughed at this comment, except Byakko who was giving his grandson the one-eyed death glare.

“Alright everyone, it’s time for me to get going” Byakko said, getting up “anything anyone else want to say before I go?”

“Remember to shower regularly” said Anna

“And don’t get wasted in any taverns!” shouted Gregory

“All right, that’s enough” Byakko said, brushing off the rest of the comments “See ya.”

With that he turned around and began marching away from the village. 

“Fare thee well” Lan yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth “Come back soon.”

He then waved his arm in farewell.

Within a few minutes, Byakko was just a speck in the distance and the crowd at the front gate began to disperse. 

“Alright Lan” Anna said taking him by the hand “Your music lesson with Edgar is about to begin.”

Lan nodded and began to follow her back to the village, but stopped when he noticed Sammy was still standing by the front gate. 

“Sammy!” he called out “Time to head back.”

When the boy failed to move, Lan ran over and began tapping him on the shoulder. Sammy yelped, shook his head, and turned to look at Lan.

“Whuh-What is it.” said Sammy in a sluggish voice

“You okay buddy?” Lan asked, slightly concerned 

“Ye-Yeah” Sammy said “just spaced out for sec.”

“Well, come on, we got to turn on the force-field generator soon” Lan said

Lan turned around and dashed into the village. Sammy began to follow him, but turned his head to look behind him at the nearby mountain range. He had felt familiar presence in that direction, but he couldn’t remember what it was. 

“It’s probably nothing” he thought, shrugging his shoulders “It’s probably my scrambled brain messing with me again.” He then ran after Lan into the village, to watch as they turned the generator on.  
.  
.  
.  
Two dark shadows lie asleep at the top of the mountain. All of a sudden one of them shot up, and stared in the direction of the village. It gave the other shadow a kick to wake it, and then leapt into the valley below to rouse the rest of the Grimm. Their time had come sooner than expected, the powerful white being was now leaving, and the village was left vulnerable. But they couldn’t make any rash moves; anything too flashy could cause the being to come running back. The dark creature decided it would lead a small strike force of around 100 Grimm through the nearby woods to attack the seaside village in 10 days time. After they finished off the boy they would continue with their previous plan, the original reason all of them had gathered together: to attack one of the kingdoms of man, the city of Vale.   
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	7. Chapter 7

Ch 7 White Fang

“What the heck are you doing?”

Sammy was standing over Lan who was bent backwards in an arc above a stone with his hands and feet touching the ground, tied to Lan’s body in various places were many stone weights including one in his mouth. The two of them were in a small clearing in the forest that was surrounded by bamboo, the stone located right in the middle of it. Lan motioned with his head towards the scroll Byakko had given him, which showed a bad sketch doing exactly what Lan was doing now. Sammy walked over to the scroll and inspected it. 

“20 minutes at a time? That’s rough.”

Lan grunted in acknowledgement and motioned with his eyes towards a small steel timer below his head.

“Oh” said Sammy noticing it, “how long do you have—”

All of a sudden there was a click and suddenly the clearing was filled with a horrible grinding and screeching noise. Sammy yelled in alarm and clamped his hands over his ears. It took him a few moments to realize that the noise was coming from the alarm and that it was actually Byakko singing a popular pop song and as for the words…well let’s just say that the two were lucky thar the more vulgar ones were rendered unrecognizable by Byakko’s horrible singing. Lan’s eyes twitched as the sound washed over him, he was obviously used to listening to such a horrible thing. Lan spat out the weight in his mouth and then yelled at Sammy.

“HIT THE BUTTON ON TOP! THAT WILL TURN IT OFF!” 

“WHAT?” Sammy cried, his hands still covering his ears.

Lan gasped in exasperation and began motioning to the alarm below him with his eyes. Understanding, Sammy rushed over and stomped on the button on top with his boot. The music stopped, and they both sighed in relief. 

“Why does Byakko do this to you” asked Sammy, uncovering his ears.

“Dunno” said Lan, flopping onto his side and beginning to take off the weights. “But if I don’t do what he says” Lan closed his eyes and shuddered “Things do not go well. Plus I don’t get any stronger if I don’t.”

“No not the training” said Sammy “I meant the alarm.”

“It was his order” said Lan, getting up “and if I don’t listen to him, even for something small like this, he’ll be assigning me more…physical resistance training.” 

Lan winced and covered his buttocks as he remembered the last time Byakko had made him do that. Lan had serious doubts that strengthening his anal sphincter would make him a better warrior. But when he had revealed these thoughts to Byakko, he, with a long iron spike, had disagreed. Sammy, knowing better than to inquire further, simply nodded.

“About time to head back now though” said Sammy, looking at the built in clock on his arm and talking in an ecstatic voice. “Come on, our lesson with Rowan is beginning soon and he said we’d start building firearms today!”

“Ah ha!” said Lan “Weaponry, I am totally going to school you today.”

“We’ll see about that” said Sammy smiling.

The two of them then raced off back towards the village.  
.  
.  
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The sound of gunfire was reverberating inside Rowan’s workshop. Lan and Sammy were firing the pistols that they had made at some plastic moving targets. The two of them were in an underground practice bunker. Once the two had finished their guns a little while ago they decided to have a competition to see who the better shot was. It had been quite some time since the two of them had begun target practice and the ones on Sammy’s side of the field were riddled with holes in many places, the ones on Lan’s however seemed factory new. Lan was whining with frustration as he missed shot after shot while Sammy stole a smug glance at him every now and then.

“Aw come o-Oh that wasn’t”

The quality of the guns that they had made was actually very similar to each other in case you were wondering. But Lan kept missing every single shot. It seemed that Lan’s proficiency was firearms was extremely limited. This was curious considering that he had excellent aim when throwing or using a bow and arrow. After emptying their last clips the two of them turned around and looked at a score board behind them. The Final results: Sammy-84, Lan-0. Sammy punched the air with glee while Lan bent over and sighed. Sammy smiled and was about to begin gloating when Lan suddenly started mumbling.

“Oh I’m so worthless. Can’t even hit the broadside of a barn. I should just die. Ughhhhhh”

Taken aback by the sudden darkening in Lan’s personality, Sammy stood there stunned for a moment. 

“Uh, no you’re not Lan.” Said Sammy, reaching out and patting Lan on the back. “Nobody’s good at everything.”

“I’m a warrior though” said Lan with a heavy voice “I’m supposed to be good at everything related to a fight and firearms are one of the biggest parts of the military today.”

Lan then collapsed onto the ground, Sammy jumping away in fright, and began sobbing. 

“OHHHHHH! Why am I such a failure? WHY!?”

Sammy hovered around Lan, who seemed to be beginning to form an inferiority complex, trying to cheer him up when all of a sudden the door to the room burst open. Sammy jumped in surprise and Lan, aroused by the instincts he had begun to hone, leapt into a fighting stance. In the doorway stood Rowan, his face dripping with sweat and a look of alarm painted across his face. 

“What is it!” shouted Lan, who had quickly forgotten his previous misery.

Rowan just stood there, slowly recovering his breathing. Sammy and Lan stared at him expectantly.

“Well?” said Lan after a few minutes “Speak up.”

Rowan took a deep breath and then turned to look at Sammy. 

“There’s a White Fang airship nearby sending out a signal.”

“And?” said Sammy, obviously nervous.

“There looking for you.”  
.  
.  
.  
“I received the signal a few minutes ago” said Rowan, flipping a few switches on his computer screen.

The two boys, as well as Anna and Hiroshi were also crowded around the screen. 

“Here” said Rowan, clicking a replay button.

A rough voice crackled to life, blurred once in a while by a wave of static, it sounded tired, angry, and desperate. 

“To all listeners in the area. We are searching for a young boy around the age of 5. He can be identified by his brown hair, circular spectacles, and features depicting him as a squirrel Faunus. If you see this child, send a reply message immediately.”

The message ended and the room went quiet. 

“Well Sammy” said Rowan after a few moments “what do you want to do?”

“Huh?” said Sammy, turning to face him. 

“Whoever this guy is” said Rowan, slumping into his chair. “He probably knows something about your past. Why else would they be looking for ya?” Rowan picked up a mug of coffee and took a sip before continuing “But we don’t know why their looking for ya.”

Sammy stood and stared at the floor for a few minutes. He then lifted his gaze and stared at everyone in the room, taking in all their faces. He took note of Lan’s encouraging smile, Rowan’s nonchalant stare, Hiroshi’s intense gaze, and Anna’s kind smile. He then lowered his head again, placed his chin between his thumb and forefinger, and began to think. His time here in the village had been fun and he was truly happy here. True he was curious about his old life, but if it meant giving up all of this he wasn’t sure if he wanted to take that route. His mind was a buzz, filled with all kinds of turmoil. It was then than a small, firm hand grabbed his shoulder. Sammy looked up and stared into Lan’s smiling face.

“Whatever happens, everyone here will always be your friend and if need be we can protect you from anything.”

Like a beam of sunshine searing its way through the morning mist, Lan’s words cleared Sammy’s indecision. Nodding, Sammy turned to Rowan and stared the engineer in the eyes. 

“I want to meet them” said Sammy after a deep breath “Let’s meet the White Fang.”

“Alright” said Rowan, turning around to send a message to the airship. “Now let’s give those peace-loving Faunus the go ahead to land.”

Little did any of them know of the change that would take place within the organization in eight years time.  
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The members of the village watched as the ship descended onto an open stretch of land. It was a bullhead, slightly larger than normal with the normal oval-like body, glass window on the front, and 2 large wings with attached engines sticking out on its sides. 

There was a loud clunk as the ship landed. A door in the back opened and a platform extended to the ground. A large muscular man in a long brown trench coat walked out, surrounded on both sides by a group of white fang guards. The man had rough features, like a battlefield veteran, had short brown hair and was smoking a pipe. 

The man stared across the crowd, scrutinizing every face.

“Alright” said the man in a gruff voice. “Where is he?!”

“Right here”

The one who answered was Sammy, who was now standing at the front of the crowd, trembling. The man turned to look at the child. His eyes widened and his pipe fell out of his mouth. He slowly walked forward toward Sammy, tottering as though inebriated. He stopped right in front of the boy. 

Sammy gulped as he stared into the eyes of the towering man. All of the sudden the man knelt down and reached out for Sammy. Sammy yelped and closed in eyes in panic. He was quite surprised when he felt the arms gently embrace him. 

“Son” said the man, his voice now shaky “I’m so glad you’re safe.”

Sammy’s jaw dropped and his eyes grew wide. The man released his hold on Sammy and then lifted the boy into the air, a slight smile emerging on his rough features.

“Dad?” said Sammy, his voice starting to break as tears began to stream down his face. 

“Yes” said the man smiling “it’s me.”

He then embraced Sammy again, this time the little boy hugged back. 

The majority of the villagers were equally happy and surprised. Many of them began cheering and clapping

Hiroshi stepped forward as the representative of the village and held out his hand to the man, his face devoid of the surprise and mirth that bathed the rest of the village. As with all political matters he was approaching the situation with a calm disposition. 

“Greetings sir” said Hiroshi with a small smile on his face “Welcome to Longa Ciner—“

 

He was interrupted as a blue blur zipped passed him. Lan stood in front of the man with a broad smile sitting on his face. 

“So you’re Sammy’s Dad” said Lan, flapping his arms like a penguin. “That mean you’re a squirrel Faunus too.”

The man gave Lan an uncomfortable blank stare, set Sammy down, and opened his coat. He, like Sammy, had a large fluffy squirrel tail. He had on a white tank-top under his coat which showed off his muscular build. 

“Does this answer your question human?”

Lan was taken aback by the venom that was in the man’s voice. He was obviously one of the members of the White Fang that held a strong hatred for humans.

“I thank for taking care of my son until now” he said with a very slight bow “he and I will be taking our leave now.”

He took hold of Sammy’s hand and Sammy, shocked by the sudden thought of leaving, was dragged without much resistance.

“Hold it!” shouted a rough voice.

Greb appeared behind the man in a millisecond and seized his shoulder. 

“You haven’t even introduced yourself yet and you’re just gonna take off?” he said with one eye-raised.

The man turned his head and seeing that he was talking to a Faunus his features relaxed slightly.

“My name is Momonga Cranndarach”

He then turned around and held out is hand, which Greb grudgingly grasped and shook. 

Suddenly finding his voice and strength at that moment, Sammy pulled his hand out of his father’s grasp and turned to face him. 

“Wait Wait Wait! I can’t just leave just like that! I mean I’ve lived here the past two years, I’ve got amnesia, and I got to say bye to everyone first!”

“Your mother is worried sick.” said Momonga crisply “The last I saw her she was crying her eyes out, so you have to come home now! You’ll be able to recover your memory much faster at home. Now Come!”

“Oh come on!” shouted Rowan, emerging from the crowd “you got to at least let us send the kid off. Why don’t we have a party or something tonight, I mean this is really sudden after all. The kid won’t be comfortable leaving just like that!

“And if I should refuse?” said Momonga, clenching his fists.

“Dad!” shouted Sammy, pushing away and running back to the villagers. “What is wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong with me?” shouted Momonga “what’s wrong with you supporting this human. You should know how they have discriminated against our kind!”

“That doesn’t happen here” said an gruff old voice. 

Turning, Momonga found himself face to face with Greb. 

“What you have just said may hold true in many settlements all over the world, but it don’t happen here.”

“Yeah” shouted a Mr. Hono, a fox Faunus.

All the other Faunus in the village began to mount their protest as well, and the area was soon filled with their shouts.

Momonga gazed across the sea of villagers. He was shocked to see so many of his people supporting those who he believed had subjugated them for so long. The guards behind him were shifting uncomfortably as the shouts poured on. All of them were so used to having all the Faunus on their side during rallies that they had no idea how to deal with the current situation.

Hiroshi raised his palm and the shouts slowly died down. 

“I know that you are very busy my friend” said Hiroshi with a gentle smile “but perhaps you and your men could stay the night and recuperate before leaving. It must have been very difficult searching for your son these past months, come to Anna’s tavern with us and have something to eat…and maybe a few drinks as well.” 

Momonga looked at the man (obviously surprised by his good nature), stared at the villagers surrounding him (especially the Faunus), and then returned his gaze to Hiroshi.

“Well…I guess it wouldn’t hurt” said Momonga finally relenting.

Hiroshi held out his hand and the crowd parted before him. 

“The tavern is this way” said Hiroshi, waving in the general direction. “follow me.”  
Momonga and his guards, after casting uncomfortable gazes at each other, began to follow him after a few moments.

Lan and Sammy watched them walk away with smiles on their young faces.

“Not even gonna have time for all the teary-eyed goodbye stuff now are we” said Sammy with a grin.

“Probably not” said Lan “Come on, it’s party time.”  
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A few hours later the restaurant was filled with laughter, the clanking of mugs, and the scraping of platters. 

Momonga and his men had been quite reluctant at first, but after a couple glasses of Greb’s vintage whiskey and some of Anna’s gourmet cooking, their hardened demeanors quickly melted away and were replaced by the visage of happy drunks. Momonga especially had come around and was now arm in arm with Rowan and Greb as they sang and swayed around the room. Anna was busy in the kitchen, preparing the food for the sudden festivities. Lan and Sammy were conversing with the least hammered White Fang members and everyone else was drinking and having a good time. The party was a fun one and lasted well into the night, slowly depleting the tavern’s ale supply. After speaking with many members of the village, both human and Faunus, Momonga was slowly able to open up, especially after recognizing that many of the humans in the village had gone through the same kinds of troubles and persecution that he and the rest of the Faunus had. Things quieted down around 3 A.M., Sammy and Lan falling asleep together on one of the sofas, and most of the villagers had either gone home or were asleep in strange positions in random places in Anna’s home. The only two still awake at this point were Hiroshi and Momonga who were both sitting at the bar.

“It really has been a surprising day” said Momonga, pouring himself another shot of sake. “Never thought I’d find my son and meet some good humans on the same day.”

“Now now my friend” said Hiroshi, shaking his head slightly. “Don’t say it like that. Say people. Be we humans or Faunus we are all people of this world.”

“Yeah” said Momonga, staring down into his glass. “If only other people saw it that way as well.” 

“Give them time” responded Hiroshi “I am certain that you will see a change.”

“It’s what we’ve been hoping for” said Momonga, swallowing another cup “things don’t seem like their progressing though.”

“Things like that happen in every process my friend” Hiroshi patted him on the back and poured him another drink “Don’t lose heart.”

“Yeah” said Momonga with a smile “but I probably will in a couple days if my wife ever finds out I drank this much.”

Both of them gave a weak chuckle. 

“But what was Sammy doing so far away from home?” asked Hiroshi.

“Well…” said Momonga, scratching his head “my wife and I…aren’t exactly on the best terms right now. We didn’t want the boy to get caught up in the crossfire so we sent him to live with his uncle. Imagine our horror when we found out that the village had been destroyed by Grimm, especially when the message came five months after the event took place.” He paused for a moment, looking slightly ashamed. “I had thought the boy had already been killed, especially after the corpses of all the other people in that town had been confirmed, so I didn’t want to use the resources to search, but my wife wouldn’t have any of that. Rosy has always been a go and get-em girl, and it looks like that attitude has paid off this time.” Momonga turned and stared at Sammy’s sleeping form, a smile visible on his hard features. “It’s nice he made a friend, but his arm…” Momonga sighed.

“It wasn’t your fault” said Hiroshi patting his back.

“Maybe, maybe not. It doesn’t matter now” said Momonga “he’s safe now and that’s all that matters.”

“Indeed” said Hiroshi. 

“A toast” said Momonga, raising his cup “to my first human friends.”

“Kanpai!” responded Hiroshi.

They both drank deeply and sighed. 

“This really is a crazy town though” said Momonga “I mean, how the heck does something like that happen?”

He motioned towards Lan who had stripped down to his undies in his sleep. 

“Let’s just say his grandfather’s bad habits tend to rub off on him” said Hiroshi

They both chuckled again.

“Crazy town” said Momonga again. “If only every town had people like it has.”

Hiroshi smiled, and raised another toast.

They then spent the rest of the night drinking, and finally fell asleep when the first rays of golden light began to peak through the windows.   
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After taking the morning and most of the afternoon to recover from their hangovers, the members of the White Fang loaded their ship and prepared to leave. Sammy and his father had quickly cleared out Sammy’s room in the back of Anna’s restaurant and had loaded his belongings onto the ship. 

Rowan, who had grown closest to Sammy during the stay, had given Sammy’s arm an extra tune up and, with Momonga’s stern insistence, had included a detailed operating manual to go along with it. He also gave Sammy a few books and other learning materials in case Sammy ever felt like delving deeper into engineering. 

Everyone was standing outside the ship and was giving Sammy words of encouragement and expressing farewells. Strangely though, even though the goodbyes were so fast, no one believed that they were being too hasty. In this town, many a good old man and women passed away without warning. They were already used to quick goodbyes. Sammy, although sad at the thought of having to leave, was eager to meet with his mother and the rest of his family. The only one who was truly torn over the sudden departure was Lan, but being instructed by Byakko to “suck it up whenever something bad happens” Lan quietly stood there, his face stern and his hands in his pockets.

Noticing this, Sammy smiled and walked over to Lan. 

“Come on Lan, don’t be sad. It’s not like we’ll be saying goodbye forever.” Said Sammy. “I’ll come to visit a bunch.”

“Yeah” said Lan, suddenly smiling.

The two stood there staring at each other for a few moments, a stupid expression on both their faces. Then all of a sudden they burst into tears and gave each other a tackle like hug. Tears and snot ran down their faces as they wailed about how they would miss each other. After a few minutes they separated and wiped their faces on their own shirts. 

“You know what you’re going to be doing in the White Fang? Asked Lan, blowing his nose on the hem of his shirt.

“Don’t know” said Sammy, doing the same “probably help out with protests and stuff, but I’d really like to work with machinery.”

“Don’t worry” said Momonga who came over and placed a hand on Sammy’s shoulder “you will. We can’t be letting the skills you built up these months go to waste, and besides there’s always…” Momonga trailed off as a serious expression appeared on his face. “Never mind” he said again after a few moments, “anyways, you’ll be put to work with those skills of yours. But first” he said, suddenly looking nervous “you’ll have to help me settle things a bit with your mother. Rosy was never one to patiently wait, expect anything once we get home.”

Momonga then turned around as one of the guards was calling his name. From the looks of things the ship was almost ready to leave. 

Sammy and Lan returned their attention to each other, but both were too nervous to say anything else. 

The first to break the silence was Lan.

“It’s probably going to be a while before we see each other again. But to make sure we don’t forget each other. I’ve prepared something.”

Lan reached inside his gi and pulled out a small bottle and two small cups.

“Sakazuki!” said Lan, with enthusiasm.

“What?” asked Sammy, confused.

“I read about it in a book once” whispered Lan excitedly. “Two guys who were very close shared a sakazuki to forge an oath of brotherhood!”

“Sounds cool!” said Sammy. “Let’s do it!”

Lan pulled out the stopper of the bottle, filled both cup, and handed one to Sammy.

Sammy sniffed and wrinkled his nose.

“What is this?” he asked

“It’s called sake” answered Lan, “from what I read it has to be this drink in order for the ritual to work.”

Lan and Sammy smiled as they took the cups.

“Brothers” they both whispered, clinking the cups together and downing their drinks.

“Tastes weird” said the two of them simultaneously. 

“But now we are brothers in spirit!” said Lan with a smile.

“Time to leave!” called a guard from the direction of the ship.

Lan and Sammy turned to each other, smiled and grasped each other’s hand. 

“We’ll see each other soon” said Sammy with a smile.

“Yeah” said Lan.

With that, Sammy dashed towards the ship and boarded it. After the ramp was retracted and the door closed, the engine hummed to life and the ship rose into the air. 

Sammy stared down from the one of the side windows at Lan’s shrinking figure. Momonga came up behind Sammy and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry we had to leave on such short notice.” He said sadly “I know you must have become attached to those down below and—“

“It’s okay dad” answered Sammy, “Mom’s got to be really worried.”

Momonga smiled. Although Sammy had yet to recover all his memories, Momonga felt closer to his son than before. Before, Sammy had been a quiet child who had always huddled in the corner whenever Momonga and his wife had an argument. Now the boy had a strong light in his eyes, burning with confidence and pride as well as a little more muscle than before.

“If only every village could be like that” Momonga thought, “staring down at the shrinking multitude down below. “If the majority of humans can ever start seeing us as equals, I hope it’ll be just like that.”

He was about to turn around and leave Sammy to his thoughts when something caught his attention. He sniffed and detected the odor of strong alcohol. At that moment Sammy let out a large belch and started wobbling. Alarmed he ran over and supported Sammy with his arms. The boy was red in the face and his eyes were spinning. He was obviously drunk.

“How the heck did—“

His question was answered as he glanced out the window. Down below, a crowd had gathered around the Lan’s supine form who had a sake bottle and two cups lying around him.

“Sakazuki” whispered Sammy in his drunken stupor.

Momonga let out and exasperated sigh and then smiled.

“Brothers huh?” he said, placing Sammy on a seat and buckling him up. “Let’s hope this is a step in the right direction.”

Once the ship reached the proper altitude it readjusted its engines and took off into the distance, racing off towards Sammy’s home, the 7th division of the White Fang.  
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The Grimm watched as the ship fly away. They had been surprised when the ship had touched down and believed that they had come to bolster the village’s defenses. But their worry had nothing, the ship had left. But this event left a new idea in their mind. The village could always contact others for reinforcements if things went badly for them. But they knew what they had to do. They had already noticed the large communications tower for sending and receiving information with the outside world. That would be their first target in their coming attack. They then turned around and tromped towards the seething mass of Grimm below to gather together their vanguard.


	8. Chapter 8

Ch 8 Old friends  
1 day later

Lan was sitting on a cliff overlooking the sea, and was watching the sun as it began to dip under the waves; however its magic was lost on him as it is on all who cannot share the feelings aroused by such a phenomenon with others.

“It’s not as lively here without grandpa and Sammy” Lan said sighing “even a day without him is pretty depressing.”

He had finished that day’s training regime (three times over actually), finished his lessons with everybody, and the library had just been closed. So, now he had nothing to do, especially since everyone had their own plans for that day. Plopping down onto his back, he yawned and began to think about his time here. All of a sudden a cold wet nose touched his arm. He looked up and found Ignis sitting there, his tongue lolling out and his tail wagging. 

“I guess you felt I was lonely huh?” said Lan patting the little guy “I’m also a little bored to be honest. Come on” he said patting his leg. “you take a load off too.” Ignis trotted over and placed his head in Lan’s lap. “It really is peaceful here though” said Lan closing his eyes and listening to the sound of the waves, the hustle and bustle in the town, and the explosions that were always coming from Rowan’s workshop (which was always followed by a round of yelling from Gregory). 

“But y’know?” said Lan, opening his eyes and staring into the orange sky, “I wonder when my adventure will begin? But when it does” said Lan, smiling “I know everyone in the village will be so proud to see me standing there, a hero.” 

Ignis sighed in contentment and nuzzled Lan’s leg. Lan smiled and patted him.

“I hope it starts soon.” Said Lan.

As soon as the words emerged from his mouth, the sound of a violent explosion ripped through the air. Lan looked up and saw smoke rising from one of the corners of town. Lan jumped to feet and Ignis, sensing something was amiss, began looking this way and that, trying to find the cause. 

“Come on!” shouted Lan, and the two of them dashed off towards the source of the smoke.   
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“What is this?” said Hiroshi, his eyes wide.

“From what I can tell” said Rowan “it appears to be a large boulder that has just crashed into our communications center.”

“I can see that” said Hiroshi calmly “What I’m asking is how did this happen”

Rowan shrugged. “Don’t know. It came from the direction of the forest though.”

The first thing that came to Hiroshi’s mind was an enemy attack, as one of the key elements of success in warfare is preventing the enemy from summoning reinforcements, but out here in the middle of nowhere there wasn’t anyone who would attack them, not even bandits because this area was so far away from any major roads.

“What is going on?” thought Hiroshi. Suddenly, he heard shouting coming from the forest side of the village. There was the crack of firearms, cries of pain,…and the roars from a menagerie of bestial throats. 

“The force field!” shouted Hiroshi, realizing what was happening “Activate it!”

Rowan nodded and pulled a small remote control out of his pocket. He pressed a button and activates the force field generator in the center of the village, which shot a spire of energy into the air, which spread out and quickly formed a dome of glowing energy over the whole village. 

“The dust matrix is stable” said Rowan gazing at a screen on the remote “We’re good.”

“But just in case make sure all combatants are armed” said Hiroshi quietly.

“What?” said Rowan, surprised “but the force field has always held. Nothing’s going too—“

“Just do it Rowan!” said Hiroshi, sharply “something just feels…wrong.”

Rowan stared at him for a few seconds and nodded.

“I know better than to question your instincts” he said with a smile “one battalion, coming right up.”

He then dashed towards the center of town, yelling for people to take arms.  
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Lan dashed into the center of the town and witnessed the exodus of the town’s citizens either heading in the direction of the woods, these men and women carrying weaponry, or towards the large shelter near the docks. Gregory and Hiroshi were standing in the center of the chaos, Hiroshi directing the armed citizens and Gregory directing the unarmed ones.

“What’s going on!?” Lan yelled, running up to them.

“There are Grimm at the edge of the village” Gregory responded “I’d wager around 100 of them, but don’t you worry, the force-field’s got enough dust in it to last us through weeks of this. So we’ll be fine.”

“But just in case” Hiroshi said, walking over to the boy “I want you to head to the safe house along with all the other noncombatants until the Grimm are dealt with, the rest of us will prepare a perimeter in the off chance they break through.”

“Oh come off it” Gregory said, patting Hiroshi on the back “We all know they’ll never get through.”

With lightning fast reflexes, Hiroshi grabbed Gregory’s hand and then turned to stare him straight in the eye.

“Never underestimate your opponent” Hiroshi said his voice shaking with intensity, “I learned that lesson the hard way. Many many times.”

Gregory, put off by Hiroshi’s words and fierce stare, nodded slowly, and after Hiroshi released his grip, he started heading in the direction of the safe house now that most of the evacuees were there.

“Come on kid” he said in a slightly shaky voice “up and at em.”  
Lan, however, stayed where he was and looked Hiroshi in the eyes with a determined stare. 

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Lan said his voice steady and calm “I am ready and waiting.”

Hiroshi smiled as he looked down at the young boy who reminded him so much of his younger self in the military, and then reached out and patted his head. 

“The best thing you can do for us is to head to the safe house; we wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.” Hiroshi replied.

“But I can be of assistance!” Lan complained “We all know that I’m strong.”

“Yes we do” Hiroshi said, removing his hand “But you’ve got to leave this to us old people, If we just rely on you kids all the time we’ll become useless old farts in no time flat. Besides, it is our duty to protect the younger generation, and if we fail to do that, well…there wouldn’t have been any point in us doing anything. So promise me you’ll follow instructions, and won’t do anything reckless. Besides” he added on an off note “it is very unlikely that the Grimm will get through. We’re just getting ready on the miniscule chance they do.”

Lan stood there, holding Hiroshi’s gaze for a few minutes, then nodded and ran off in the direction of the safe house, stealing a few glances behind here and there.

Hiroshi watched as the boy ran away, and then turned his attention to the edge of the village where the Grimm were attacking. He felt a mound of uneasiness building up in his stomach. Something was different today, and he knew that things wouldn’t be going as planned. He had said those assuring words to Lan only because he believed that it was the best method to get that now fiery-hearted boy to listen to his instructions. 

He called out to the combat-able villagers to begin arming themselves, and then he walked back to his home to retrieve his twin katana. It had been many years since he felt like he need Falcon’s Claw and Swallow Tail, but today he felt that they were needed.  
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Lan was watching from afar as the other villagers began to form up at the end of the town where the Grimm were attacking. His hands were clenched, and his body trembling with excitement. He wanted to get over there and help everybody defend the village. But he had promised Hiroshi that he would head to the safe house and, as the many stories he had read had advised him, it was never a good idea to break your word. Lan sighed and turned in the direction of the safe house once again, but something outside the barrier near him caught his eye. 

Standing there at the edge of the forest was an old man with a bald head and a long white beard. He was wearing what appeared to be a monastery monk’s robes. Lan didn’t recognize the man, but he felt strangely familiar.

“Hey!” Lan yelled “come inside the force-field, it doesn’t stop humans or Faunus from going in or out!”

When the man refused to move, Lan gave a nervous glance in the direction of the Grimm and shouted out once again.

“There are Grimm nearby, it’s dangerous out there!”

The old man stared at Lan for a solid minute, and then he lifted up his arm and began beckoning for Lan to follow him. 

“What!?” Lan said, confused “Why should I go out—”

Before Lan had finished speaking, the old man turned around and walked into the forest. Dumbstruck, Lan began calling out to the old man, but to no avail. He turned around and stared in both the directions of the safe house and the location where the Grimm were attacking. 

“I promised Hiroshi that I would head to the safe house” Lan thought, starting to grow desperate “But I can’t just leave an old man outside.”

Torn between the two decisions, Lan tried to think of the best way to handle the situation and after a few moments of debate, made up his mind.

“Promises are important” he thought to himself “…but protecting other’s lives takes first priority!”

His resolve now firm, Lan dashed out of the barrier and headed in the direction the old man had disappeared in, determined to bring him into the barrier either peacefully or with force.  
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Hiroshi stared at the pulsating barrier, where the Grim were slashing, striking, and ramming it. The barrier stood firm against all of the blows, giving no sign of weakening.

“Maybe my instincts are dulling” Hiroshi thought, sighing “it really is obvious that they won’t get through.”

The barrier hadn’t even shuddered after the Grimms’ relentless assaults, they would eventually lose interest and leave. He turned around and started to give the command for the group to disperse and return to their homes.

A loud, harsh, new cry ripped through the air, coming from the direction of the Grimm. Shocked out of his composure, Hiroshi whipped round, and was struck dumb by what he saw. Standing at the barrier was a humanoid Grimm with 5 reddish crystals sticking out of its back. 

“What in the world?” Hiroshi said, quickly recovering senses.

All of a sudden, reddish-black energy began coursing around the creature and began to gather at one of its clawed hands. The energy wrapped itself tightly around the tips and coalesced into a bright, yet at the same time dark, light. The beast then raised its arm and brought it down on the force field where the two energies collided. A blinding light erupted from the point of impact, sparks of energy flying off in all directions. Hiroshi quickly shielded his eyes from the radiance, than as his eyes grew more accustomed to it, moved his hand slightly out of the way so he could see what was happening.

Cracks were beginning to form in the force-field, branching out from the epicenter of the impact. Reddish black tendrils of energy were also spreading out. 

“Hiroshi” someone called from behind him “there’s something wrong with the generator!” 

Hiroshi whipped around and saw that energy was shooting off from the center of the village where the generator was located. Quickly analyzing the situation, Hiroshi realized what was about to happen. Whatever energy the creature was releasing was begging to block out the energy of the dust field, and that energy was at that very moment building up in the generator. 

“Get away from the generator!” he cried “It’s going to blow!”

The militia members who were most near it began to run away, forcing all their strength into their legs to ferry them to safety. But it was to no avail. In a flash of multi-colored light, the generator blasted apart, releasing devastating energy around it and sending many flying. Those closest to it weren’t so lucky, however. The energy caught them in its embrace and sucked them into the light, and once the light faded all that was left of them were blackened corpses. The blast had also set fire to many buildings and destroyed much of the central area, leaving it looking like a warzone.

Hiroshi stared at the chaos, his eyes filled with grief. So many of the men and women he had lived with and loved had their lives snuffed out in the blink of an eye. He dropped his head down, shocked by this turn of events. It had been many years since he had seen people close to him die, not since he was still a general. But the experience one gains from the battlefield never truly disappears, so he has quickly able to steady himself and assess the situation. He was then filled with dread, realizing the dire situation they were all in. He turned around and saw the small army of Grimm standing only a few dozen yards away from them, all their eyes hungry for blood.

Quickly gathering his wits, Hiroshi called out to the other members of the village militia to get into battle positions. He pulled out his two katana, and shifted himself into a combat stance. The other more quick witted citizens of the village followed suit. Rowan jumped into the cock pit of a large combat mech and activated it, Anna pulled out two clubs from inside her dress and struck a martial arts pose, Edgar pulled out a conductor’s baton that hummed to life with dust energy, Greb lifted up his pitchfork which was crackling with electrical energy, and the others quickly pulled out their weapons and entered into their respective combat stances.

The two forces stood silently, staring each other down. Then, screaming at the top of their lungs, the two groups ran at each other and the battle began.  
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“Wait up” Lan yelled, “you need to get back to the village!”

He was running through the forest, trying to catch up to the old man that he saw. Every once in a while he caught sight of the old man again, but never got close enough to grab him.

“What is he even doing out here?” he thought “I never saw him before so I don’t think he’s a member of this village.”

After running for little while longer, he burst into a clearing. The old man was sitting on a log in the middle of it and as soon as Lan entered he lifted up his head and looked at the boy. 

“Ahah” Lan cried in triumph “I got ya now. Now let’s get back to the village old man, it’s not safe out here.”

When the old man still didn’t move, Lan grew annoyed and began to walk towards him.

“Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Either you can calmly follow me or I’ll drag you to safety!”

Suddenly the old man began laughing; it was a manic and uncontrolled laughter that made Lan’s hair stand up on end. The old man then got off the stump and began walking towards Lan.

“Ah, finally” Lan said with relief, believing the laughter to simply be a moment of insanity “hurry up we don’t know what may be lurking—”

He stopped talking as he noticed a reddish-black glow appear on the man’s chest. Then with a ripping sound, a reddish-black crystal burst forth form the man’s robes. Darkness began seeping from the crystal, winding around the man and spreading out to cover him in its umbral embrace. The darkness folded and hardened old man, taking on armored bestial appearance. A few seconds later the man was gone, and standing there was a humanoid Grimm that appeared to smile at Lan, its eyes filled with a sadistic gleam.  
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Hiroshi dodged to the left as an ursa brought its paw down where he had formerly been standing. He then leapt off the ground towards the ursa and brought his left and right blade up and down respectively on its neck, decapitating the creature. He turned around to survey the rest of the battle and saw that they were pushing the Grimm back. Anna was sending any small sized Grimm flying with a whack of her clubs (her arms trained from hitting unruly customers). Rowan was currently going head to head with a deathstalker, his robot’s four arms trapping the deathstalker’s claws and stinger and his artillery blasting away at the creature’s head. Edgar was writing musical scores in the air with his conductor’s baton which either resulted in a magic based attack, a beneficial buff to a group of allies, or a detrimental effect on a group of Grimm. Greb, used to dealing with unruly animals, was routing a small group of Quadra-pedal Grimm. The other members of the militia were also engaging in successful skirmishes with the Grimm’s forces.

His morale raised, Hiroshi dove into a group of beowolves and began slicing them apart using his fluid sword style, the thrill of battle filling him and the taste of victory sweet in his mouth. But after he had cut them all down he noticed something odd. The humanoid Grimm that had destroyed the barrier hadn’t joined the battle and instead was just watching as the melee unfolded before it. Hiroshi had been certain that the creature would join its constituents in battle. It was definitely the most dangerous though; an army of Grimm couldn’t have done what it did to the barrier. 

“Perhaps the attack has left it weak” Hiroshi thought “If that’s the case then this is our chance to kill it.” 

There weren’t many other Grimm now; they had destroyed almost all of them at this point through the efforts of the battle-ready militia and Hiroshi’s superior tactics. Hiroshi turned around and yelled at the other warriors to gain their attention; he then pointed in the direction of the Grimm and ordered an assault. The militia responded with a passionate war cry and the nearest group ran at the creature, their weapons raised. 

It was over in an instant. The creature seemed to vanish for a split second, and then reappeared behind the group. Confused, the warriors turned round to face it…and fell to pieces, cut apart and dead before they even knew what happened to them. 

Hiroshi was struck dumb. All of those warriors had combat experience and adept control of their aura. What was that creature? The creature turned around to face him…and smiled. Hiroshi felt a chill travel down his spine. Through his many years of military experience there was one key skill that had allowed him to survive many battles, one that allowed him to lead his troops to safety time and time again. It was the ability to sense an enemy far beyond his capabilities. He began to give the cry to retreat, but then Rowan began barreling towards the creature in his mech, his artillery blazing. 

The creature got into a crouching position, unperturbed by the shots hitting its body, and, with an explosive burst of power, it launched itself towards Rowan, twisted its body into a strange angle, and then smashed through the robots legs. The machine crashed to the ground, sparks flying from its severed limbs. Rowan lay in the cockpit groaning, a line of blood flowing down from his temple. He slowly crawled out of it, pulled out a pistol, and then got to his feet. 

“I won’t die like this” Rowan gasped “not after all I’ve been through!” 

“Rowan, look out!” someone yelled from far away

He heard a loud thump behind him, turned to look in the direction of the sound. What he saw was a black, clawed foot shooting at his face. It was the last thing he ever saw. The creature rammed its foot into his face and then slammed his head into the ground with a loud crunching noise. Rowan’s body twitched for a few seconds and then lay still.

“Rowan!” Hiroshi yelled

Rowan and Hiroshi had been quite close; they had been friends for over twenty-five years and had spent so much time together: Drinking, arguing, debating, they had done everything that old friends do. And now Rowan was gone, crushed underneath the foot of the Grimm like an insect. But another dark feeling rested in Hiroshi’s breast. With Byakko gone, Rowan and his combat mech had been the village’s greatest military asset, and they had been defeated in less than a minute.

“Retreat!” Hiroshi cried at the top of his lungs “Retreat!”

The militia began running back towards the village center in order to form a defensive front where they would make their final stand. Meanwhile they could send a group to load all the noncombatants in the safe house onto the boats in the harbor. At least that way some of the villagers would survive. With that thought steeling his resolve, he turned around and began to run after the rest of the warriors.

All of a sudden a sizzling crackling sound filled the air around him. He turned around and saw the creature’s crystals were glowing and transferring energy towards a black ball of energy that was forming at the creature’s mouth. With a bang, a large dark sphere flew past Rowan, missing his head by only inches. The orb flew far off into the distance, towards the ocean and disappeared from sight. A few seconds later there was an earth-shattering explosion and the horizon was filled with dark energy. A few seconds later, it was gone and Hiroshi knew from the now falling wooden debris that the boats had been destroyed.

“How?” he thought to himself “How did it know?”

He turned round and stared their executor in the eyes. Not only was this Grimm powerful, it was intelligent! How did such an abomination come into existence? Hiroshi felt his calm waning, but he as a commander he had to make sure the chances of everyone’s survival improved if by only a little. The other members of the militia were still running towards the center of town, planning to use the scattered debris to quickly muster a defensive position. He would try his best to muster them, to try and stop this thing. But at present time not even retreat was looking promising to him. Hiroshi, now convinced of the humanoid Grimm’s intelligence, thought it likely that the humanoid had other Grimm waiting in the forest to slowly hunt down any who tried to escape. Had he known that the vast majority of its forces were in a valley in one of the nearby mountains he would have sent out the order for evacuation. 

To struggle to the end. In the face of this foe that was all they could hope to do…No, there was one thing that could save them, one person who had left only recently. 

“Byakko” Hiroshi whispered, eyeing the creature that seemed to be smiling at you. “Where are you?”

As Hiroshi turned and ran towards the fortifications the wind suddenly began to blow, as if whisking his prayer away to a place far far away.  
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“Achoooo!” Byakko sneezed, “Hmmm is someone talking about me?”

Byakko was currently sitting alone in a forest clearing far away from the village. He was sitting on a log and was currently roasting a deer over a roaring fire. Juices were beginning to flow out of it at that moment.

“Now time for a little spice!” he said, and whipped out the bottle of spices Anna had prepared for him. 

He turned it upside down to sprinkle the delicious mix onto the mix, but all of a sudden the bottle shattered and its contents were scattered into the wind. He stared down at the broken shards in his hands and narrowed his eyes. Over the course of his long life, he had grown adept at noticing and interpreting different signs, also his instincts were beginning to scream at him that something was wrong. He stood up and stared in the direction of the village. Suddenly he heard a faint voice whisper into his ear as a gentle wind passed through the clearing. 

“That settles” he thought “something’s up at the village!”

He had left just a few days before, but since he had been walking the whole time, he hadn’t travelled too far. 

“I better head back as fast as I can” he thought “I can probably cut the travel time in half if I travel over the mountains.”

Byakko quickly packed up his belongings, slung them over his shoulders, and then after devouring the deer faster than humanely possible, dashed out of the clearing full speed. To describe Byakko’s speed would be like to describe the wind. Flowing unseen through the trees faster than any would be able to perceive, albeit he did destroy a branch here and there. After a little while he began to near the mountains. Slamming down hard with his feet, he leapt off the ground and into the trees ahead and began using them as footholds to increase his elevation. Higher and higher did he climb until he cleared the treetops and came face to face with the mountain side. 

Angling his body slightly, he planted both of his feet on the face of the mountain and then began to run up the incline, speeding forwards towards the peak. It took him only a few minutes to reach it. Then, with an enormous burst of strength, he launched himself from this peak to another one further away, flying hundreds of meters in one leap. He kept this up for quite some time, flowing through the air like a god riding on the wind, and after a while the village came into view.

“Alright” Byakko thought, “Almost there.”

Once he landed on the mountain top closest to the village he began to survey the area, wanting to do a quick reconnaissance before heading back. But something quickly caught his attention before he had gotten a good look at the village. Far below him in a valley were thousands upon thousands of Grimm, a seething black ocean of malignant beasts that were milling around in the dark.

“Ohoh!” Byakko said, grinning and cracking his knuckles “I guess this was the unsettling feeling I was getting. I guess they would have a lot of trouble if this many Grimm attacked the village.” Byakko moved his neck from side to side, which also brought out a cracking sound. “I guess I’ll clear them out.”

Despite the dire situation, Byakko planned to take his time with the Grimm below. It had, after all, been a long time since he had a decent fight and if he went all out from the beginning he believed he wouldn’t be able to enjoy the battle as much. After all, “get the most out of everything!” was one of his personal mottos.

With an earth-shattering yell Byakko leapt off the top of the mountain and descended upon the Grimm below. The beasts began roaring and shrieking when they saw him and swarmed around his landing point, wanting to tear him apart as soon as possible. But with a burst of aura, Byakko crashed into the group with the force of a meteorite, crushing the Grimm directly below him and sending the rest near the point of impact flying off in all directions. Byakko rose to his feet, surveyed the situation around him and smiled.

“Let the games begin!” he cried, raising his arms into the air.

He then charged into the nearest group of Grimm and began tearing them apart, yelling out bad jokes all the while. If only he had realized where the real threat laid, but as the euphoria of battle enveloped him he never stopped to question what could have brought so many Grimm to one place.  
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Lan was standing in the center of the glade with the Grimm. He didn’t know what was going on, but he did know that that thing was dangerous. He quickly switched into a martial arts stance and began to channel aura throughout his body. 

“Note to self” Lan thought “Never EVER break a promise.”

The two stood there staring at each other for a solid minute, and then the creature smiled, appearing to laugh at the young boy who dared challenge it. This confused Lan, who had remembered reading that Grimm had no souls, and as a result no emotions. But he quickly regained his mental composure and strengthened his stance. 

“The one who moves first strikes last” he remembered his grandpa saying. “If you outmatch your opponent in the test of willpower at the beginning, then the flow of the battle will be in your favor.”

Remembering these words, Lan also remembered another piece of advice his grandpa had given him. If you can taunt your opponent without leaving any openings, then go ahead and do it. 

Making sure to keep his composure, Lan twisted his face into a comical form and blew a raspberry at the Grimm. 

With a roar the Grimm charged at Lan, its fist raised. Dodging out of the way with a graceful movement, Lan moved behind the Grimm and threw an aura infused punch at the back of its head. The attack barely made a dent in the creatures hardened armor; in fact the one most hurt by the attack was Lan, whose knuckles were now stinging from punching something far harder than itself even after it had been reinforced with aura. Crying out in pain, Lan pulled back his now reddened fist. 

Swinging around with frightening speed, the Grimm threw a kick at Lan’s face. Lan quickly responded by blocking the attack with his shoulder, but the force of the blow sent Lan flying to the other side of the clearing. Lan landed with a thud onto the grass, clutching his bruised shoulder. He rose shakily to his feet at then looked at the Grimm.

“This thing is strong, tough, and fast” he thought “this isn’t going to be easy.”

Lan began flowing most of his aura to the area of the wound in order to heal it, but until it recovered he wouldn’t be able to attack properly. The creature roared and charged at Lan once again. Once it got close enough it began throwing a variety of different strikes, each of them a killing blow. The creature’s movements resembled a form of martial arts. It wasn’t nearly as refined as Byakko’s or Lan’s but was able to make up for the lack of skill with its heightened physical abilities. But, Lan’s skill, instincts, and training allowed him to dodge every blow, albeit a few were only by a hair’s breadth. The whole time he had to keep his breathing calm and his mind focused, just one good shot was all it needed. But Lan’s perseverance paid off. The exchange continued for a half minute, and by then Lan’s arm had fully recovered. To create some distance, after he dodged the monsters next attack, Lan performed 5 consecutive back flips and then landed on the ground, his legs spread apart and his right hand touching the earth. 

“Alright buddy” Lan said “My turn.”   
He then ran at the Grimm, dodging its attacks as they came. He then began throwing blows at specific parts of the monsters body, this time careful enough not to add too much strength and hurt himself. His plan this time round was to pierce through the monster’s armor by repeatedly striking the same area over and over again. However, dodging the monster’s blows while throwing an attack or two of his own proved to be a bit more difficult than he had anticipated. Every once in a while the Grimm’s claws would cut him, or Lan would fail to hit the right place. So after a little while Lan was covered in gashes and his gi was ripped in quite a few places. But the fruits of his pain were beginning to show. In the middle of the creature’s abdominal region, cracks were beginning to form and judging from the look of them, one good strike would break through. Leaping back a few yards Lan pulled back his fist and infused it with a good deal of aura. He then leapt forward, his fist aimed at the crack. At that moment energy began to flow out of the crystal on the Grimm’s chest. The energy flowed down to the cracks in the monster’s abs and in less than a second, completely repaired them up. Unable to stop himself in time, Lan threw his punch and his fist collided with the Grimm’s repaired armor. Pain shot up Lan’s arms as he felt some of his knuckles fracture. Taking advantage of this, the Grimm threw an uppercut which hit Lan square in the jaw and sent him high into the air. Lan then plummeted down to the ground, ensnared in gravity’s merciless embrace. He lay there, his brain spinning and his breath hoarse, not even able to comprehend the danger he was now in.

The creature began walking towards the boy now itching to finish him off. But at that moment a torrent of barking fell upon the glade. It seemed that their noisy battle hadn’t gone unnoticed by the forest’s denizens. Emerging from the trees was the pack of rage wolves, Ernest (now slightly bigger) was leading them. Once they saw Lan lying on his back, they dashed over and formed a line between him and the Grimm. Ernest began barking out orders and the pack quickly encircled the Grimm. The glade was now filled with the sound of their growling.

“Guys” Lan cried out in joy, his voice weak “How did you find us?”

Ernest turned round to look at Lan, gave him a toothy grin, and barked out a reply. Having lived with them for many years, Lan had learned how to understand what they meant even though he didn’t understand what they said.

“I guess we really were noisy!” Lan said chuckling.

He could rest easy now that the local wolves were here. Although he could outclass each of them individually, if he fought them as a pack he wouldn’t stand a chance (which is the method that wolves use to hunt successfully), but as his grandpa told him, he had to be ready at all times, so he began channeling his aura to his wounds to heal them as fast as possible. The Grimm stared at the creatures that were now surrounding it. It looked amused at the circle around it, but as its gaze fell on Lan its glowing eyes hardened and became serious. It didn’t want to waste any more time, not with its quarry standing right there. It roared and charged at the nearest wolf. At that moment it was struck from behind by a different wolf that had dashed forward as soon as it had seen the creature’s back. Turning around the creature roared and began to charge but once again was struck from behind. This continued for half a minute, the wolves teamwork being executed at frightening speed. Angered now, the Grimm began charging energy from the crystal in its chest, and then with a shriek, released the energy around it blasting all of the wolves around it. The wolves yipped in pain as the blast hit them, but as soon as the energy dissipated they began growling and started to glow a red color.

“Bad choice” Lan said, “You don’t want to get these guys mad.”

The wolves were now shrouded in coats of aura, which enhanced all of their physical abilities. Ernest gave a loud bark and the pack sprang into action. They shot forward faster than bullets and began striking the Grimm from all angles, each blow exploding with red energy. The fight currently looked like fireworks begin shot at a black target. Cracks were beginning to form in the creature’s armor as it was struck again and again from all sides. Noticing this, Ernest detached from the group, started to harness his aura around him, and began to watch for the correct opening. The rest of the pack, noticing his intentions, then began aiming more of their attacks at the Grimm’s legs, aiming to throw it off balance. The Grimm’s crystal was spitting out energy to repair the damage, but it wasn’t fast enough to handle all the damage the pack gave it. 

Two wolves shot forward at lightning speed and rammed the Grimm in the back of the legs, knocking it off balance. Seeing this, Ernest shot forward, his aura surrounding him like a meteorite, and blasted through the left side of the Grimm’s abdomen, leaving a gaping hole in his wake. The Grimm cried out in pain and clutched at its side, and then collapsed to the ground. 

The wolves howled in victory and dispersed their formation. A few of them went to check on the Grimm’s corpse, while Ernest and the rest went to check on Lan.

“Great job guys” Lan said, pushing back the cold noses poking at him “you really got hi—”

 

A yipping sound came in the direction of the wolves were checking on the Grimm, as well as a loud slashing noise. Lan and the rest of the wolves shot round and looked in the direction of the noise. The Grimm was back on its feet, and the wolves around it were on the ground, injured and whimpering in pain.

“But the wound!” Lan thought “How can it move with that kind of—”

The crystal on the Grimm body began to glow, and in an instant energy shot forth from the crystal and gathered around the hole in the creature’s abdomen and began healing the creature, new black matter emerging from where the energy touched. In seconds the light faded and the wound had vanished, as though it had never occurred. 

Lan was stunned by this turn of events, amazed by the creature’s regenerative powers. But a piece of advice his grandpa had told him came to mind.

“Always focus on the enemy’s weaknesses. Sure, you have to watch out for their strengths if you don’t want to get your ass handed to ya. But in a fight it’s a bit more important to know how to make your enemy lose.”

“The crystal,” Lan shouted to the rest of the wolves, correctly assuming that it was the source of the creature’s strength “go for the crystal!”

Understanding their objective, the wolves quickly got into position again, their anger burning due to their injured comrades. But with a few of the wolves down the formation wasn’t as efficient as it was before. They quickly launched into their attack pattern once again, but this time the Grimm was able to land a blow or two here and there, slowly weakening the pack. However, they were still able to keep the Grimm off balance. Ernest was standing behind the group again and charging up his aura attack, this time he knew where to strike. With a howl, Ernest charged forward once again and once he was near enough he dove off the ground, targeting the crystal. Seeing the attack coming, the Grimm knocked aside some of the wolves attacking it and brought its arms forward to meet the attack. If its arms were destroyed, it could just regrow them. The crystal was its lifeline, and it had to protect it. 

 

Two wolves dove at the Grimm from its blind spot and chomped down on its hands and then with a burst of force, they wrenched his arms down to expose the crystal. In that instant, Ernest used his aura to put on an extra burst of speed, and barreled into a field of energy that surrounded the gem. The two energies collided together, aura vs. the crystal’s power. Sparks began to fly in all directions from the point of impact. Cracks were beginning to form in the barrier, but Ernest was growing more exhausted by the second as he pumped his aura into this one attack. The point of contact began to grow brighter, and in a flash of brilliant light, the winner was decided. 

Ernest was blasted backwards by the pent up energy in the field, and hit the ground with a loud thump, collapsed in a heap a dozen yards away. The Grimm roared in triumph and then, noticing the wolves still latched onto his arms, slammed the two wolves together and threw them aside. The rest of the wolves were now in disarray, but they wouldn’t go down without a fight, so each of them began attacking the Grimm individually now. But the Grimm was able to handle these desperate attacks relatively easily, dealing severe blows to every wolf that came near him. 

Lan stood watching the whole event from a few yards away; he was fully recovered at this point. Most young boys would have despaired at this point and would have tried to run away. But Lan stood there analyzing the situation and trying to find the path to victory. He had to be quick though, the wolves were losing strength by the second, and once they were defeated it would be all over. 

“Ernest’s method was correct” Lan thought “to win, we must destroy that crystal, but the attack must be strong enough to break through the barrier in one blow!”

Lan knew what he had to do now, he wasn’t sure if he could muster up more aura than Ernest was able to, but he was the only one in top condition. Lan then turned to Ernest.

“Get up already” Lan shouted “are you really going to be brought down just like that you little pup?”

Responding to Lan’s scathing comment, Ernest forced himself back onto his feet and turned to stare at the boy. Lan pointed to himself, pointed to the Grimm, pointed to Ernest and each of the wolves and then made a circling motion with his arms. Lan and the wolf pack understood each other. So Ernest understood that Lan needed him to distract the Grimm. Ernest eyed him for a few seconds and then barked in understanding; Ernest then turned and howled at the pack to get them organized again, and then ran into the fray. 

Planting his feet firmly into the ground, Lan began channeling the aura in his body into his right arm. Byakko had warned Lan about overusing his aura, but now wasn’t the time for reservation. It was do or die. The wolves were organized once again, and even though there were fewer of them, they made up for it with their increased ferocity and desperation. 

Lan had saturated his right arm with as much aura as he could muster and found that he still had aura left in him. 

“Can’t waste my one attack” Lan thought “If I can’t fit the aura into my right arm I’ll send it to other places.”

Lan filled his left arm with aura as well, and placed the little bit left into his legs to give himself an explosive dash. He was ready now and began watching for an opening. 

The wolves were visibly exhausted now and were barely able to keep the Grimm off balance, many of them succumbing to their wounds and falling to the ground. Noticing that Lan was ready, Ernest barked out a command to the remaining wolves. The wolves then leapt away from the Grimm and began glowing red, putting in the last motes of their aura. Before the Grimm could react, the wolves began using the multi-directional aura tackle again. The attacks were so fast that the Grimm couldn’t even react; it was being hit from every direction and was struggling just to keep its balance. Seeing this, Ernest and 3 other wolves went for the coup de grace, and launched a synchronized attack, which struck all four of the Grimm’s limbs and finally threw it off balance.

With that attack finished, all the wolves collapsed to the ground, exhausted.

“Thanks guys” Lan thought, pulling back his arm,

He then launched himself forward, exploding off the ground with a blue glow and flew through the air towards the Grimm. The Grimm saw the attack coming and tried to bring up his arms in time to block the blow, but was unable too due to the previous attack. 

Lan threw his punch and connected with the barrier surrounding the crystal. The two energies collided with each, forming a storm of blue and reddish-black light where they met. Lan’s arm screamed in pain as the energy from the barrier tried to force it away, put Lan pushed forward, ignoring the pain and focusing only on crushing his enemy. Cracks were beginning to appear in the energy field now, but the aura in Lan’s right arm was beginning to dissipate as well. Lan could tell that his energy was giving out first, desperation filled him at that moment. Was he going to die here? Would his journey end after this battle? 

“NO!!” shouted Lan from the depths of his soul “I’ll kick this thing’s ass and get out alive!”

Yelling out a war cry, Lan pushed his arm forward. The barrier exploded in a flash of blue and red light, sending the surrounding wolves flying in all directions and staggering the Grimm. Lan cried out in pain as he felt every bone in his right arm shatter, but he gritted his teeth and fixed his eyes on his opponent. Running forward with a yell, Lan raised his left arm and threw a second blow. This time his fist connected firmly with the crystal and discharged all of offensive aura he had stored in it, along with the augmentation granted by the blue crystal. The Grimm was blasted backwards and slammed into a tree in the edge of the glade. 

Lan’s body couldn’t take the force to the blast either, and as a result the bones in his left arm were also shattered.

Lan stood there, his breath ragged and his arms hanging uselessly at his sides. He looked up towards the Grimm, smiling, but his smile fell once he saw the Grimm start to rise. The crystal on its chest was now cracked in many places and was leaking reddish-black light, but it was still intact and the Grimm was still alive.

Lan began panicking, both of his arms were broken, and he couldn’t risk damaging his legs in case he needed to run away.

“I’ve got to finish this!” Lan thought “While I still got this weird strength! But what can I use to—!”

It was then that he remembered something doctor Krueger told him.

“The hardest bone on your body is your forehead; a fist would break if it came in contact with it.”

“Alright” Lan thought straightening up “This is it.”

Redirecting his last motes of aura to his skull, Lan began to charge forwards towards the Grimm, who was still struggling to get up. Yelling, Lan slammed his left foot into the ground and blasted himself towards the Grimm head first. At that moment the Grimm brought its head up to see the situation…and saw a blue meteorite heading straight at it. 

The Grimm struggled to get up, trying to get out of the way or at least block the blow, but it was still too exhausted from the previous attacks and could barely move.

Lan’s head collided with the crystal in Grimm’s chest, light shooting out in every direction as the cracks in the crystal widened. The Grimm struggled against the attack and began pushing back.

“There’s something you should always remember monster!” Lan yelled as he pushed forward, blood trickling down his face “The heroes always win!”

Lan suddenly felt energy swelling up inside of him, flowing throughout his body and then heading towards his skull, filling it with power he never knew he had. All of a sudden Lan felt a burning sensation in his chest, but at the same time a burst of energy. A blue crystal shaped like a four pointed star had suddenly appeared in the middle of his chest and was supplying him with tremendous power. This new influx of power completely overwhelmed what little energy the crystal in the Grimm’s chest still possessed. 

With a yell, Lan thrust his neck forward and shot all the energy out at once. The energy burst forward, shattering the crystal in the Grimm chest, shooting right through it. The energy then widened and blasted through a vast area of forest behind the Grimm. The Grimm stood there twitching; a fist sized hole in its chest, behind it was a path of destruction, the forest torn apart.

Exhausted, Lan dropped back to the ground and collapsed onto his back, staring at the Grimm with a grin on his face and the sweet taste of victory (and blood) in his mouth.

The Grimm gave one agonized cry and collapsed onto its back, its armor falling off it in different sized chunks and disintegrating on the grass. In a few minutes all the armor had fallen off and a man sized piece of blackness was all that remained there.

Lan yelled out in triumph, and the wolves that could move ran over and began covering him with congratulations and saliva (mostly saliva).

“Ah, guys” Lan said, brushing away the many tongues “I couldn’t have done it without out yo—”

He then noticed that the blackness was peeling away from the man-shaped form, revealing flesh and blood beneath. In a few seconds the shadows were gone and lying there was an injured old man with a long white beard.

The wolves growled and began to make their way towards the figure, but Lan sat up and called them back. He didn’t feel anything dangerous from the old man and had felt the Grimm’s presence disappear. This man wasn’t dangerous, in fact he felt familiar, very very familiar.


	9. Chapter 9

Ch 9 Origins

After taking a few minutes to catch his breath, Lan stood up and walked over to check on the old man. The old man was breathing heavily and appeared to be heavily injured. At first Lan though the Grimm was still alive, but he felt no presence of evil so that couldn’t be the case. But soon the bulk of his attention was drawn to the many wounds covering the old man’s frame.

“Can’t just leave him like this” Lan thought “I know! I’ll use medical acupuncture…orrrrr not. My arms are still broken.” He sighed, but then remembered another one of the strange skills Byakko taught him. “Ahah!” Lan said, a sparkle in his eyes “This is a good situation to try out the toe dexterity training I went through!” 

Dropping down, Lan reached inside his gi with his right foot and removed a box of needles; he then opened it with a flick of his big toe and withdrew one needle. Turning back to the old man, Lan brought up an acupuncture chart he had seen to mind, and remembered where to start the procedure for stabilization treatment.

“Steady” Lan said, holding the needle over one of the pressure points on the man’s chest “Steady”

Lan dropped his foot down and pierced the man’s skin. The man coughed and spat out a glob of blood, and then returned to his labored breathing. 

“Hmmm” Lan said to himself “a little bit off center, but it’ll do.”

Lan continued to treat the old man for the next few minutes, he infused each needle with a minuscule amount of aura to increase the healing rate; he had only recovered a little bit so he had to use it carefully. His rate of progress was slow his use of his feet was still quite amateurish. But after a few mishaps and a few close calls, he managed to stabilize the old man’s condition, if only temporarily. 

Sighing, Lan collapsed onto his back and stared up into the sky. Now that the immediate dangers were over with, his mind was drawn back to the village. 

“I wonder if everyone back at the village is doing okay” he thought. He then sat up and shook his head to clear his mind of the doubtful thoughts “Of course they are Lan, you got to stay positive. Right now I got to focus on recovering; I won’t be able to get back to the village in the sorry state I’m in now! They’ll probably just be angry that I snuck out! But that will be fine once I show them this g—“

A fit of coughing behind him snapped him out of his thought. He whipped around and stared in the direction of the old man, who was now twitching and choking.

Realizing what was happening; Lan made his way over to the old man and then turned him onto his side. The old sputtered one more time and spat out a fist size glob of mucus that he had been choking on. He then groaned and then slowly opened his eyes. He seemed confused for a few minutes and then lifted up his hand and stared up at it. His eyes widened in surprise and he began moving his body in various positions, patting himself here and there as if he had lost something.

“My body” he whispered, “It’s mine again, Oh after all these years!” he tried to sit up, but cried out in pain and spat out a wad of blood.

“Whoa! Careful old man” Lan said “You’re not in any condition to move.”

The old man slowly turned around and looked at Lan. His eyes widened as he stared at the boy, recognition showing on his face and all of a sudden he started laughing and crying, tears ran down his face like rain and his body twitched in pain with every laugh. Lan stared at the old man, confused.

“Um, are you okay?” Lan inquired.

“Okay!?” the old man said, his eyes filled with half-insanity and hope “I’m better than okay! I’m great! I’m stupendous! Oh I haven’t felt this elated in so long!”

He then turned his head upwards and continued to laugh while Lan sat there feeling awkward. After a few minutes the old man’s jubilation died out and he turned over to look at Lan.

“You’ve grown so much boy.” he said with a smile “just look at the how much you’ve grown. You probably have a name now if you know how to speak. Could I hear it?”

Lan felt electricity run through his spine at these words. The old man knew who he was, but seeing as he didn’t know his name, the old man must not have met him after coming to the village, that means he knew Lan from before Lan arrived at the village. It’s possible that he could have been a member of his biological family. 

“It’s L-Lan” answered Lan shakily. “Umm, G-grandpa?” Lan asked in a timid voice “Are you my grandpa?”

The old man laughed weakly and slowly shook his head.

“We’re not family boy, don’t worry.” The old man said with a slight grin. At this comment, Lan’s head drooped slightly. “But I have known you since you came into this world.” The old man responded, seeing Lan’s disappointment.

Lan’s head shot up again. His eyes were wide again and his breath beginning to fluctuate with anticipation.

“Who are you?” Lan asked

“My name is Ansel” the old man replied, “a member of the Order of Dawn.”

“Never heard of it” Lan said nonchalantly, scratching his head with his foot.

Ansel smiled.

“It’s not surprising” he said with a chuckle “Our order withdrew from the public eye long ago…Would you like to hear the story of its creation and your birth?”

“Gladly” Lan said with a smile “I need time to rest anyway.”

Ansel smiled, then he turned his vision towards the sky and his eyes then glazed over as he began to recount the order’s history. 

“The order was founded many years ago, by those who had lost their loved ones to the Grimm. It had only one purpose, to exterminate all Grimm in the world, no matter the cost. At that time, the rest of society found the order’s methods a little…extreme, so our founders secluded themselves far away from the rest of mankind so that they could pursue their noble goal without obstruction!” 

The fervor in Ansel’s voice was increasing at this point but, unnoticed by him, Lan was beginning to fall asleep. But even half-asleep, Lan was able to pull the key provisions out of the man’s speech. The order was shunned by the rest of society due to its disregard for human life, only focusing on the destruction of Grimm and making hundreds of needless sacrifices in many battles. The order also never had a shortage of new recruits, due to the many people that lost loved ones to the Grimm and were also swallowed by hatred for the beasts. But after many years, the order lost contact with the rest of society and had transformed into a kind of traditionalistic society that lived within an ancient castle far far away from any other human settlement, where warriors were trained generation after generation to battle Grimm, with new members joining every once in while (mostly survivors of Grimm attacks who got lost in the woods near the order’s castle). Of course they did send people out every once in a while to bring back information about the newest technologies and discoveries on the weaknesses of Grimm. But they mostly kept to themselves, always trying to find a way to eliminate the Grimm once and for all.

Realizing how rude it was to be drowsy during a man’s life story, Lan shook himself awake and gave his full attention. By this time, Ansel was beginning to talk about his own past.

“I was once a miner” Ansel said in a nostalgic voice “I was an employee of the Schnee dust company and worked in one of the many dust quarries they owned, one near the sea and surrounded by a forest. Due to the low wages I couldn’t afford a home, so my wife and kids came to live with me at the employee quarters, where our basic needs were provided. While I worked at the quarry, they would take care of everything at home from cleaning our modest living quarters to trapping game in the surrounding wilderness to supplement our meager food supply. It was a hard life, but it was bearable, and even under those conditions, we were able to live a happy life together…That is” Ansel said, his voice hardening “Until the night they came.”

Ansel then turned his head and looked Lan in the eyes.

“The quarry we worked at was far away from any of the kingdoms. So, it was hard to get to or from that area. We had some security personnel there, but there weren’t enough of them…not nearly enough, especially not enough brave ones. One night after everyone had fallen asleep; our camp was attacked by Grimm. The security tried to fight them back, but they were completely overwhelmed. The brave men and women fought back against them to their dying breathes, but the cowards took the only transportation vehicles and fled before any of the noncombatants had a chance to evacuate…Those cowards, left us to die and from what I remember there were still at least 100 empty seats left. So many people died before my eyes that night, so many men and women that I had shared blood sweat and tears with.”

Ansel closed his eyes at this point; tears were welling up in them now and his breathing was growing more labored. Lan sat in awkward silence as he waited for the old man to calm down. After a few minutes Ansel calmed down and turned back to Lan.

“I managed to lead my family away from the quarry” he said with a calm voice “we managed to get as far as the cliffside, but by then we were caught by a group of ursa. I tried to protect them as best I could, but I wasn’t a trained warrior. The ursa tore me apart, breaking my bones and rending my flesh until I could barely move. Once I was down, they turned their attention towards my family and surrounded them.”

Ansel was beginning to hyperventilate now, and Lan was beginning to grow more and more concerned as he felt the old man’s sadness. 

“I tried to help them” Ansel said, the memory filling his voice with desperation “I pulled myself up and ran over to help them...but I was too weak and was knocked off the Cliffside by a blow from one of the ursa. The last thing I remembered before the waves took me” Ansel said, tears streaming down his face “was the sound of my family screaming as I fell down into the darkness below.” 

Ansel broke down in tears at this point. The wolves looked at each other and shifted around, feeling rather awkward. Lan felt a tear trickle down the side of his face, he had always been a very empathetic boy and could almost feel the emotional pain that came from that experience. After a few minutes Ansel stopped crying and got back control of his breathing. He then continued his story, his eyes now swollen and red.

“After drifting for a while, I ended up on a beach near the order’s headquarters. They found me and treated my wounds, and after I told them my story, I was offered a membership into their ranks. Not having anything else to live for, I accepted. I would have done anything to make those Grimm pay. After going through their training and learning their waves, I eventually became a mid-ranking member. I lived every day by killing Grimm and training new recruits. True, the scars of my past would never leave me, but being there was like living with a new family, especially when I got to teach the young ones. The sad part however was the high mortality rate that came from our constant battles. But” he said with strength “those men and women died for what they believed in and had no regrets.” He smiled again, but suddenly realized that he had gone off topic “Right, and as for you, well… I had been a member for 25 years, and had settled into the lifestyle, living every day of my life following the order’s doctrines and ideals.”

Ansel sighed, and then smiled as he looked up into the sky.

“Of course…I knew that our efforts were in vain. We didn’t have the slightest clue on how to end the Grimm once and for all. If anyone knew the way, they probably would have done it by now. I began living my days out in a daze, doing what the order asked of me and enjoying my life with my new comrades…but that all changed the day we found that place.”

Tension was now creeping into Ansel’s voice as he recounted their discovery.

“Some of the members were digging in the middle of the order’s courtyard; they were planning on building a new storage facility. But while they were digging they unearthed a strange stone, written in an old language. They brought some of our scholar’s to look at it, and the scholars found that the stone mentioned mankind’s origins, of our birth from dust and our emergence into a world filled with Grimm. Our leaders were amazed that there had been such a thing, hidden right under the order’s nose for such a long time…then again construction of the new storage facility only began after some of the older more traditionalistic leaders died. Anyway, the order began excavating immediately, and after digging through piles of dense earth and moving hundreds of stones, they uncovered what appeared to be ruins.”

Ansel’s description of the ruins was garbled, and was filled with ambiguous language and unclear descriptions, but Lan eventually pieced the image together in his head. It apparently consisted of a large stone tablet surrounded by 4 ancient stone pillars with ruts that lead to a stone bowl in the center, the area inside the pillars was around the size of the courtyard and the pillars were cylindrical and around 2 stories high.

“After we had excavated it” Ansel continued “we built a ramshackle building around the site to protect it from the elements, and all the while we researched the writings that were inscribed all around the ruins. From what we could decipher, this temple was a conduit for the dust.”

“You mean like the energy we use today?” Lan asked

“No, not that dust. By dust, I mean the substance that was there in the beginning. The very thing that brought mankind into existence!”

“Ohhhhhhh” Lan said in understanding “But what does all this have to do with me?”

“I’m getting there” Ansel said with a smile “Anyways, after researching the writings in the temple for a while longer, we discovered that the dust interacted with the temple at random intervals of time, each pulse able to create miracles in our world. The reason nothing had happened the entire time our order was there was probably because being underground had disrupted the conduit it some way. Once all of the translations had been finished, it was found that the ruins were a temple of sorts to conduct the dust, and from miniscule energy readings that the ruins were giving off our researchers were able to discover that a pulse would manifest there in a short time.

Our leaders grew excited when they found this out, and began preparations for the event. The ruins were filled with all kinds of sensitive monitoring equipment. They didn’t know what would happen when the dust interacted with the temple, but they weren’t going to let that energy go to waste. Before the estimated day of the pulse arrived, we gathered our finest warriors and most brilliant scientists into the ruins to prepare for whatever might happen. Once we had all gathered, we waited for a few hours in quiet anticipation, but nothing happened initially. Not wanting to miss anything, many of our members set up sleeping arrangements and prepared for a long wait. It actually continued like this for a few days, many of our constituents grew restless during this time and there was a heavy air floating around almost every day. But it was all worth it for that one night.”

Ansel took a deep breath and stared into the sky, once he continued, his voice was filled with awe.

“It was midnight and almost everybody was asleep, there were a few people discussing important matters near all the equipment, but it was mostly quiet. I had just woken up and was uh…relieving myself in some of the bushes nearby, since the bathrooms had broken from overuse, when…Oh don’t give me that look” Ansel said, seeing Lan’s raised eyebrows “I didn’t want to miss anything”

“It’s okay” Lan said, smiling “me and grandpa do it all the time, and as a result I have learned what not to use as toilet paper.”

“Oh well that’s quite uhh inter—“

“And you should smell it when grandpa finishes” interrupted Lan “It smells 100 times worse than on old toilet that’s been unflushed for a week. Yeah that rabbit he used to wipe one time must not have been happy.”

This time it was Ansel’s turn to stare at Lan, and after shaking his head and grumbling about interruptions, he returned to his story.

“I heard yelling coming from back inside the ruins, so I hurried up and headed back in. When I entered I saw that the tops of the pillars were glowing with a blinding light, and energy was leading down the ruts in the ground toward the bowl in the center. Machines were being switched on left and right to analyze the energy, but as soon as a single mote of that energy entered one of the machines they malfunctioned and exploded, so we were forced to just watch. The light began collecting in the bowl at the center, after a while an orb of energy formed and the light coming from the pillars dimmed. One of the researchers tried to retrieve it and analyze it, but all of a sudden the orb started to suck material towards it, this scared the poor fellow behind one of the broken machines. The suction wasn’t that strong, so no one got pulled in, but more energy from the pillars as well as random bits of matter were getting sucked into the orb. The temple was beginning to shake at this point, then all of a sudden the orb released a pillar of energy that blew the roof off of the makeshift building we had constructed and reached into the sky. Once the energy reached a certain height, it began sucking in the heavens around it. I could have sworn that I saw clouds and stars being pulled into the pillar and sent to the orb at the bottom, including what appeared to be a strange blue meteorite. The energy was so fierce that no one was able to go near the orb until a little while later when the pillar began to disappear and the force faded away. Eventually all that was left was the orb, just floating there in mid-air above the bowl. One of the other researchers then walked towards the sphere again, he should have learned from the previous fella. At that moment the sphere exploded, releasing a shockwave that blasted all of us, as well as our equipment, outside the ruins and destroyed the building we had erected. I remember crashing to the ground and feeling sick, but after a little while I got my bearings together, got back up, and assessed the situation. Many of our members were scattered all about the area, some were up like I was, but most of them were still lying on the ground. A few seconds later there was a cracking noise and the 4 pillars collapsed, sending stone and dust in all directions. I believed that this event had been a failure and was beginning to call to have the place cleaned up. But then I heard people shouting and saw a crowd gathering around the stone bowl. I ran over and muscled my way through the crowd, but once I got through I was struck dumb by what I saw lying there in the now cracked bowl.”

Ansel then paused for dramatic effect, and stared at Lan with a smile.

“It was me wasn’t it?” Lan said with awe in his voice.

“That it was my friend” Ansel said beaming and chuckling “that it was! When the leaders saw you, they began to contemplate what this could possibly mean, but soon after a band of Grimm attacked our order, they were led by the humanoid Grimm. They probably felt the creation of some new entity and came do destroy it. I was ordered to get you to safety by the leaders, so I grabbed some necessities, my weapon, and fled the order through an underground route.”

Ansel then began to describe his flight through the woods with Lan in his arms, his run ins with Grimm, and Lan’s mysterious power. He then described the time he had spent, trapped as the Grimm’s vessel. After he finished his story, he turned to Lan, his eyes bright.

“All that time I spent trapped gave me a lot of time to think about things, even if my thoughts were garbled by darkness, and I think I have understood some things about you boy.”

“What?” Lan asked with an interested smile.

“Long ago, all of mankind was born form the dust. It could have happened just like it did with you. But this time instead of creating a whole new race, only you were created! And most importantly, while inside the Grimm I discovered that they believed you to be a threat to them. Do you know what this means?!” 

Ansel was hyperventilating now, no longer able to contain his excitement. Lan was leaning forward in anticipation, eager to hear Ansel’s revelation.

“It means that you might have the potential of an entire civilization! You who are human but at the same time vastly different, can bring about phenomenal changes in this world, perhaps even the end of the Grimm! Ha Ha. And with what I just saw you do to the Grimm that possessed me, I am even further convinced of the possibilities you could bring about! Tell me, how old you are right now boy, while I was ensnared by that foul creature I lost track of time.”

“Five and a half” Lan said, still soaking in the information he had just heard “At least that’s what doctor Krueger said my biological age was.”

“Five” Ansel said amazed “Just 5 years old and able to defeat a creature most adults wouldn’t stand a chance against!”

“I never would have gotten this strong without grandpa though” said Lan, blusing.

Ansel burst out in laughter, his joy lightening up the glade. “I really have to thank that man then” he said

“So does this mean I’m a legendary hero brought to this land by fate?” Lan said, his eyes sparkling and his voice filled with childhood innocence.

“Maybe” Ansel said chuckling “but only after, Arghhh!”

Ansel cried out in pain, his supine form convulsing in pain.

Alarmed Lan ran over to Ansel and began checking him, and to his surprise found a hole in the man’s chest. 

“What the” Lan said confused “This wasn’t here earlier.”

“It’s…alright boy” Ansel said with a smile “I actually was supposed to have died years ago, back at the docks. What kept me alive long enough to have that conversation with you was the remnants of the Grimm’s energy that had infected me…It seems that it’s about gone now.”

Ansel coughed and spat out a blob of blood. Lan looked down helplessly at the old man, wondering what he could do.

“You must listen to me now” Ansel said “The Grimm that came after you when you were born into this world is at you village right now, you’ve got to get away from here. Far away, to one of the 4 kingdoms, apply for hunter training and get into one of the legendary combat schools. There I know you can realize your true destiny!”

“I can’t just leave my family behind” Lan said “besides, we’ll be fine, the barriers up and a lot of them are really stro—”

Lan stopped as he saw Ansel shaking his head.

“While I was possessed by that Grimm crystal, I shared a mental link with that original humanoid Grimm which is currently at the village. It has already destroyed the barrier surrounding your village and routed the militia. It won’t be long before it ends everyone in the vicinity.”

Lan’s eyes were wide with shock, the news crashing down on him like an avalanche. But he didn’t even think for a second about what he would do. He got up, told some of the wolves to look after Ansel, and turned in the direction of the village, the few able bodied wolves following him. Ignis bounded over to wanting to help, but Lan’s intense gaze halted his advance.

“What are you doing!?” Ansel yelled out, alarmed “that village is already lost! And besides, what can you possibly do with a few injured wolves and both of your arms broken!? You had a tough battle with the Grimm that possessed me and barely won even though you were in near top condition and had these wolves helping you. The one at the village is far more powerful, you won’t stand a chance!”

Lan turned his head and fixed Ansel with an intense stare. 

“That thing came here because of me, and that means I got to fix this…I know it’s stupid, but I’ll never be able to live with myself if I just run away like a coward” he said quietly “Besides, how can I save the world if I can’t even protect the people near me?”

Lan then took off in the direction of the village. Ansel screamed at him to come back, yelling that he was far too important to risk for a few old villagers. Eventually Ansel lost sight of Lan, and he stopped yelling. Almost all his energy was spent at this point. He could feel the Grimm energy that had kept him alive fading. His soul was slowly losing its connection with the physical world and his consciousness was beginning to fade. All his old wounds hap reappeared and his life’s blood had begun leaking out of him. The wolves around him were licking his wounds, trying in vain to save him.

“Please” Ansel whispered with the last of his strength “Someone…save…our hope.”

With that, Ansel breathed his last breath and died, his soul beginning its journey to the next plane.

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“How do those chicken wings taste?” Byakko said laughing. He had just pulled a nevermore from the air, tore off its wings and shoved them down its throat. The Nevermore was of course dead at this point, but Byakko could never resist making a bad joke. He had enjoyed the battle with the Grimm, saying weird puns (some clever and some absolutely stupid), while he destroyed them in strange (and somewhat deranged) ways.

Laughing, he dashed away from the Nevermore and grabbed and ursa around the throat. He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it and touched the tip of his chin with the forefinger of his other hand thinking. His archives of combat puns had been mostly depleted at this point, and he couldn’t think of anything new. He then shrugged his shoulders and threw the ursa into the air. 

“I have run out of witty fight puns!” Byakko exclaimed. 

He then smashed his aura infused hands together, which created a shockwave that obliterated all the Grimm in a 20m radius surrounding him. Laughing, he prepared to dash into the next group of Grimm. But all of a sudden he felt a chill run down his spine and heard a ghostly whisper. 

“Please…Someone…save…him.” The ghostly voice said.

Byakko looked over his shoulder and saw now one. His instincts were now suppressing his adrenaline and bloodlust, and he could feel in the pits of his stomach that something was wrong. Something was going to happen to Lan, he just knew it. He had to get back to the village as soon as possible, but he couldn’t just leave all these Grimm to their own devices.

“Sorry my friends” Byakko said, his voice now serious “Looks like I don’t have time to play around anymore.”

A white energy began to emanate from Byakko’s body, covering his body like a silvery fire. He then roared, charge at the remaining Grimm, and within seconds the massacre began.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 Flickering Lights

Ansel’s soul was floating in a dark void. He knew he was going somewhere, but he knew neither where his final destination would be nor how long it would take to arrive there. None of this bothered him though. His mind and worries were fixated purely on the boy. As he worried and worried over the young boy’s fate, his mind drifted back to the night when everything came crashing down. The day that the boy had been born.

It took place 3 years ago on a dark night in a place far away from any of the Four Kingdoms.  
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Ansel was breathing hard, his back against a large oak tree. The Grimm were after him, and he knew he wouldn’t elude them forever. Ansel was an old man with a long white beard and a bald head, he was rather muscular for his age, was wearing black robes, and had his head covered with its hood. 

It was a cold autumn night, deep in the wilds, far from any of the 4 kingdoms; he knew no one would come to help him. If he were alone he would have chosen to fight those creatures to his dying breath with the weapon he had taken from the armory, a hybrid crossbow that could split into twin pickaxes, but he couldn’t afford to now, not when another life relied upon him. The young boy lay asleep, tucked inside his coat dreaming peacefully, completely unaware of the approaching peril. Ansel smiled as he gazed at the boy’s face, the young lad couldn’t have been more than 3 years old. The order had believed that he was to be the key to a bright future. But after holding the boy Ansel knew the truth. He hadn’t felt any special aura or abilities in him. The child was the same as any other child, even if the circumstances of his birth had been extraordinary. Regardless, they had planned to raise the boy into a fine warrior. 

If only they had gotten the chance. How did things go wrong so fast?

They should have been safe back at headquarters with the advanced Dust shield surrounding it. How did the Grimm break through after all these years? Ansel knew the answer, knew it but refused to believe it. There had been a Grimm that was different from the others, one that looked human. It had ripped through the barrier like it was tissue paper, and led an army of Grimm to attack them. The army was vast, consisting of uncountable numbers of the dark beasts. The rest of Ansel’s comrades had stayed behind to make sure that at least that beast was dead and entrusted him with the task of saving what they believed to be the miracle child. Ansel believed that they would be successful. They were the best of the best, ex-hunters and ex-members of various combat factions throughout Remnant armed with the latest in weapons technologies. 

“They will for sure be able to kill it” he thought, but the sheer number of Grimm that had poured into their headquarters had simply been too much. Their deaths were inevitable, but they would not be in vain. He would get the boy to safety and alert the rest of mankind to this new threat.

His breathing had leveled now, and he felt able to run again. He once again took off through the dense undergrowth, sped along with the weight of his mission. 

Suddenly an ear-splitting howl split the night; they still sounded like they were a little ways off, but the Grimm would soon close in on him. He had to hurry to the docks; hopefully its force field would still be operational, if so they the boy and him would be safe long enough for him to prepare a small boat. The noises behind were getting louder and more varied, he heard the howls of Beowolves, Cries of Nevermores, and the roars of giant Baskervilles. He doubled his pace, praying he would make it to the docks before they were upon him. 

He dashed into a clearing and stopped in his tracks. Standing before him was the king of the forest; a giant boarbatusk the size of a small house nicknamed “The Major”. Unlike normal boarbatusks the Major had protection on its stomach as well, making it practically a moving fortress. 

It had its eyes on Ansel, its mouth salivating in anticipation of fresh meat. Ansel cursed his fortune; he couldn’t hope to defeat a beast that had ended the lives of many veteran hunters. But he had one chance to flee and survive. He had taken a small supply of dust bolts with him he had fled headquarters, which were linked with a detonator he carried. 

“They won’t be able to harm the Major” he thought, “but they may be able to disorient it for a few minutes.” 

Just as this thought finished passing through Ansel’s mind, the Major charged at him full speed, determined to enjoy its meal as soon it could. Ansel dove to the side, making sure to cover the child with his arm, and quickly loaded the bolts into his crossbow. The force of the Major’s charge made it very difficult for it to change its direction, but the beast quickly planted its feet and turned around to face his prey. But this split second gave Ansel the time he needed to quickly fire off all the bolts that he currently had loaded in the crossbow. The bolts were aimed at many of the gaps in the Major’s armor and upon striking the hide, stuck to it. This seemed to confuse the major for a moment as it inspected the new protrusions sticking out of its body. Using this time, Ansel quickly stuck the boy into a more stable position in his robes. He had to get out of here quickly, the rest of the Grimm were getting close, and if they caught up he and the boy would be doomed.

With a thundering squeal the Major charged at him once again. This time Ansel was prepared. He leapt into the air and then, using the trees as springboard, leapt onto the major’s back. 

“I hear your hide is pretty tough” Ansel said, disconnecting his crossbow into the pickaxe form, “But smashing stuff like that is what these babies were made for”, with that Ansel began striking the hard shell with the pickaxes, each blow infused with his aura. 

The Major squealed as bits of its armor were chipped off, shaking and thrashing, trying to get Ansel off. The vibrations were so intense Ansel couldn’t find the time to use his pickaxes any more, but he had done his job. There were now many small notches in the Major’s armor, just large enough to fit a bolt. Using the momentum from the Major’s thrashing, Ansel leapt from up onto a nearby tree branch, then fired off the rest of his bolts, each sticking in place to the holes he had made. The Major turned to look up at him and growled, preparing to smash through the tree trunk and bring Ansel to the ground. 

“Too late piggy” Ansel said, triggering the detonator. Every bolt stuck on the Major exploded, filling the forest with multi-colored light. The Major squealed in pain and surprise as it’s armor splintered, then it collapsed to the ground, apparently dazed. 

Giving a whoop of success, Ansel leapt from the tree and took off in the direction of the dock. 

“I’m getting too old for this” he thought while sighing, but feeling the boy’s slow breathing, his exhaustion melted away and he doubled his pace, determined to make it before the Grimm got to them. 

He hadn’t gone 100 meters when an ear-piercing squeal pierced the night, whipping his head back, Ansel saw the Major spinning towards him, its spines screaming bloody murder. Ansel leapt sideways, but not soon enough. The attack brushed his shoulder and sent him flying backwards into a tree. Clutching the boy in his arms, Ansel took the full brunt of the collision with his back. There was a cracking noise and he screamed out in pain. He collapsed to the ground breathing hard; he had used up most of his aura cracking the Major’s armor, and after that blow had almost none left. He tried to get up, desperately trying to catch his breath. 

Then the Major was upon him, quickly seizing Ansel’s arm in its jaws. Its teeth crushing bone and rending flesh. Ansel screamed in pain, frustration, and despair. He had failed and now both he and the boy would die. The world was slowly growing darker, his life’s blood flowing out from the wound and his eyes losing focus. Suddenly, things started getting brighter.

“I must be approaching the afterlife” Ansel thought with despair, shame clawing at his mind at the knowledge of his failed mission. “I hope they won’t be too angry at me.”

He opened his eyes a small crack expecting to see the great beyond, but to his surprise, the light was coming from inside his robe. The sudden light had surprised the Major and made it back off a few steps, it now eyed Ansel with a cautious eye, as if making sure nothing strange would happen. 

“The boy” Ansel whispered, 

He then whipped open his coat, wanting to see what was going on with the boy. The child was still fast asleep, but was emitting a strange blue glow. The Major grunted, now believing there wasn’t any present danger, and charged straight at the two, its tusks ready to impale the two onto the tree. Suddenly, the light surrounding the boy intensified, and then burst forth in a brilliant flash. Ansel covered his eyes with his one good arm, temporary blinded. He heard a slamming sound and a squeal, and afterwards a constant scuffling noise. He slowly removed his hands from his face, and was stunned by what he saw. 

Standing before him was the simulacrum of a man, formed of pulsating blue energy. It had stopped the Major’s fierce charge, which was capable of plowing down even the strongest of hunters, with one hand which was fastened firmly around one of the creatures tusks. The Major was squealing and struggling, trying in vain to pull its tusk free. The strange being turned its head and looked at Ansel, and then gave a condescending gesture.

Turning back to the Major the being seized its head with his other hand to use as a handhold, and with a squelching splattering sound, ripped the Major’s tusk out. Then, with a deft motion too fast for the untrained eye, plunged the tip of the tusk into the Major’s right eye. 

The Major reeled back, squealing in pain, trying to get away from this new foe. The being stepped forward, the blue energy swirling in the palm of his hand. Seeing this with its one good eye, the Major turned to run, but it was too late. The being thrust out his palm and struck the Major in the side, the resulting explosion blasted the Major through the forest, smashing through tree after tree like they were nothing but weeds. Squealing, the Major flew off, far in the opposite direction, vanishing from sight, a few moments later there was a low boom, and a cloud of dust rose above the forest, far away from their current position.

The being turned back to Ansel, kneeled down, looked at the boy in Ansel’s arms, and then stared at Ansel’s face. 

“You should know that this boy isn’t what you all believe him to be.” Said the being. Its voice was a gentle whisper, like the sound of wind passing through leaves. But each word it spoke rang in Ansel’s ears, as though it were speaking from a megaphone. “Had I not been accidently pulled in during his creation, both of you would have died here tonight.”

It then reached out its hand and touched Ansel’s wound, there was a flash of light, and Ansel cried out at the searing pain that soon followed. After the stinging had faded he looked down and was amazed to see his arm in perfect condition. 

“It has however been a long time since I last experienced the physical realm.” The being said, stroking its chin “it may be interesting to see how things turn out for this child, so I will stay for now.

It then rounded on Ansel.

“As you were.” It said

It then reached out its hand and touched the boy on the forehead then, like a mist being funneled into a vacuum, was sucked into the boy from the point of contact. The boy shifted uncomfortably in Ansel’s arms, and then let out a long deep belch, smiled, and shifted into a more comfortable position. 

Ansel was stunned.

“What was that thing?” he thought, not understanding what the being had said “Perhaps the boy truly is destined for greatness! I must bring him somewhere that will allow him to reach his full potential”.

The hunter academies, those would be perfect. The boy would meet many good people, and hone his skills with the best of the best. With his goal firmly in mind, Ansel picked up the boy and began running in the direction of the docks once again, many hopeful thoughts whizzing through his mind. All of them wondrous, none of them true.  
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After running for an impossibly long period of time, Ansel finally broke through the tree line. There before him were the docks. He breathed a sigh of relief and ran up to them. The dock consisted of a small two story wooden boathouse with no walls and a slanted roof. It was merely propped up on all four corners my strong wooden columns. There was a small storage of supplies on the first level in case of emergencies, as well as the boats which could be pushed down a ramp into the water, parallel to the pier. But first he had to activate the dust force field generator located on the second floor. 

He dashed up the stairs, and then found the generator, wrapped tightly under a water-proof cloth; it was a small cylindrical device with an opening on the left side to insert the dust crystals to power, and a simple on and off switch on the other side. He checked its systems and found them to be in working order. He then picked up a crate of dust crystals lying next to the generator, and dumped most of them into the generator’s energy chamber. He then pulled down on the ignition switch, and the generator hummed to life. After taking a few moments to process the dust, the machine extended an antenna out from its top, and fired a beam of light straight through the roof. After reaching a certain height, the energy began to spread out and curve downward, covering the dock in its protective embrace.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Ansel walked down the stairs, finally able to relax. He took the boy out of his robes, and then wrapped him a blanket he found in the supply cache. Afterwards, he placed the boy in of their best boats (an advanced model with autopilot functions, a small dust force field generator, and a special sonic disruptor to keep aquatic Grimm away). He made sure all the functions of the boat were in perfect order and then began to pile supplies into it. 

Suddenly, an ear-splitting screech filled the air, coming from the direction of the forest. Ansel whipped around and saw that the Grimm had caught up. The group was a menagerie of different monstrosities that leered out at him from the forest. Ansel wasn’t worried though; he had charged the force field generator with enough dust to last the whole night if need be, and he only needed a few more minutes to get ready to leave. But to his surprise the beasts did not charge forward, instead they parted, forming a narrow path between the two groups. The next scene froze Ansel’s blood in his veins. The humanoid Grimm emerged from the groups and stood before him, its body splattered with the blood of Ansel’s comrades. When it had first attacked he hadn’t gotten a good look at it, but now he saw it in its full glory. It was about the average height of a man and had sharp, glowing red eyes. Its mouth had two rows of pointed teeth almost like jack-o’-lantern. Its body was completely black and was darker than the night that surrounded it, with pieces of its armor jutting out all over its body at strange angles. It had sharpened claws at the end of each of its digits; they weren’t nails though, but its fingers. It seemed to have a spiky head of hair, but on closer inspection were small spikes adorning its cranium. But the most daunting sight of all was the 6 crystals protruding from its back, each pulsing with red and black light, with tendrils of shadow wrapping each of them in a twisted embrace. The same light from the crystals was also emanating from the creature’s eyes and mouth, lighting up the path toward the dock.

There was no time to supply anymore, Ansel leapt into the boat and quickly started it, entering the coordinates for the nearest human kingdom into the autopilot system and prepping its force field. He then got out and pushed the boat into the water. There was a sudden crashing sound, the humanoid Grimm was standing in from of the force field; the crystals on its back were pulsating and sending reddish-black tinges of energy all over the creature’s body. It claws raked against the field, its energy reacting with the dust field. Cracks were beginning to form; it wouldn’t be long before the creature got through. 

Ansel knew what he had to do; he had to keep that thing here for as long as he could, so that the boat could carry the boy to safety. The boat hummed to life in the water and began to move forward, following the preprogrammed course. Ansel reached inside his robes and pulled out his remaining dust crystals, and fitted them all into dust-powered explosives he had taken from the supply cash. There was a smashing sound as the beast broke through the barrier and an explosion rocked the boathouse as the force field generator exploded on the second floor. Ansel pulled out his pickaxes and charged at the Grimm, channeling the last bits of his aura into the tips. 

It was over in an instant. With a lighting fast movement the Grimm dove forward and drove its hand right through Ansel’s stomach. Ansel cried out in pain, blood bursting from his mouth. But then he smiled. He grabbed the Grimm’s arm with one hand and then opened his coat with the other, revealing all the dust bombs he had prepared. 

“Got you now you bastard” he said with a smile, and triggered the detonator in his coat. 

The explosion blew the boathouse to pieces and sent the Grimm flying outside, crashing into a group of Beowolves, and tearing them to pieces in the process. In a few moments it was up again, seemingly unfazed by the blast. It walked slowly back to the smoking remains of the boathouse, searching for its quarry. Lying in the middle of the wreckage, his skin charred black by the blast was Ansel. 

“Too late monster” he said with a weak smile, “he’s gone now”. 

Looking towards the sea, they could both see the boat speeding away from the shore, faster than any of the Nevermores could fly. Ansel grinned, staring his executor in the face. He had completed his final mission and had no more regrets. The Grimm stared down at him and then smiled. A chill ran down Ansel’s spine, the Grimm weren’t supposed to have souls. They couldn’t respond like this to human words. Suddenly the crystals on the creatures back began pulsating, releasing tendrils of crackling energy that covered the creature’s body. The Grimm opened its mouth and the energy began flowing towards the open orifice, fusing together into a quivering black ball of darkness. 

“Wait” Ansel spluttered “Sto-“. 

It was too late. The ball burst forth from the creature’s mouth towards the boat, speeding across the water, an umbral shooting star. It collided with the force field, energy crackling against energy, the field trying in vain to hold it back. And then the sphere detonated. The area where the boat had been was engulfed in the dark blast that parted the sea in all directions. Slowly, the blast faded and in less than a minute it was over, and the sea was empty. No sign that the boat was ever there remained. 

“No”, Ansel choked, he had failed. The boy was dead, and this creature free to walk the world unchecked. 

All he could hope for now was a quick end to his suffering. The creature looked down at him, the grin still visible on its face. 

“Well hurry it up”, Ansel spat, “I don’t have all night”.

The creature lifted up its hand, but instead of bringing it down and ending Ansel’s life, it grabbed one of the crystals on its back and with a grinding noise tore it out. Then raised it above its head like a ritual dagger and drove the crystal into Ansel’s chest. Ansel cried out in pain as the gem pierced his heart. 

“At least it will be over soon” he sadly thought. 

But something was wrong; there was a sudden burning sensation where the crystal had pierced him. He glanced down and saw black tendrils spreading out from where he had been pierced. It spread quickly over his body, first covering his arms and legs. Ansel begin flailing with the little strength he had left, but his muscles wouldn’t respond to him, his limbs were moving, but not by his will. Ansel screamed as the umbral strands began creeping up his neck, eventually covering his head. In a few minutes the pain was gone, and Ansel looked out across the sea with eyes that were no longer his. 

The thing that was now in control of his body stood up and then stared into the water, and through its eyes Ansel saw what he had become. A monster, another humanoid Grimm. He screamed in frustration, but it was a sound that only he heard in the depths of his mind. His body now belonged to the Grimm, his soul bound inside it like a prisoner. He struggled against the bonds around his soul, trying desperately to regain control. But whatever power that was binding him had him completely subdue. Despair coursed through Ansel’s soul, he would now have to watch as the creature that controlled his body ended the lives of countless innocents. The two Grimm raised their heads and roared, elated with their success and the addition of a new comrade. But out of the corner of the creature’s eye, Ansel saw something. A sight that the new owner of his body paid no attention to in its moment of triumph. A sight that filled him with a slight hope. 

It was a faint blue glow, far out at sea that was slowly being carried farther and farther away by the waves.  
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Far far away, on the top of a barren mountaintop shrouded from the world below with a thick layer mist, there rested a large ramshackle wooden house with sign in front of it that read “Madame Zeroni’s”. The sound of snoring could be heard clearly from the outside, leaking from a small crack in one of the windows. All of a sudden there was a snort, and a clatter. A few minutes later, an old woman, covered from head to toe in thick brown cloth, slowly walked out of the house. Reaching into her clothes, she pulled out a strange circular crystal device and held it up to her eyes as she stared into the heavens. She stayed quiet for a few moments as she observed the signs only one with her ability would be able to see. 

“Hmm, a red star, blooming like a rose, has just been born” she said, wrinkling her forehead “and to be born near that group with the star white as snow, the star hiding within the black shadow, and the yellow star that shines like the sun. Hmmm, it seems they will have a great role to play in this world as well.”

She then turned her attention to another hidden celestial event, one that eclipsed all others at that moment. 

“So” she said finally said, in a voice that resembled the whispering of wind “The star of the ancient has finally begun its long journey once again.”

She looked through the crystal a while longer, and frowned through her shawl. 

“But it seems that darkness threatens to swallow it” she said.

Madam Zeroni pondered these new developments for a few moments. She then placed the crystal back into her robe and then stared up at the heavens once again. 

“Be safe enduring shard of light from ages past” she said “lest the world be inevitably swallowed by shadow.”

She then turned and marched back into her home and after a few minutes the sound of snoring could be heard once again.


	11. Chapter 11

Ch 11 Crashing Down  
Lan was hurrying through the woods, the three wolves he chose to bring with him were close behind. He and they were still exhausted from the previous fight, but they had to hurry. They had no idea what could be happening in the village right now. Lan’s heart was pounding, weighed down with fear and worry. 

As they began to near the village things began getting brighter, the sky was filled with an orangish-tinge and the air was filled with the smell of what Lan believed was smoke. 

"Everyone will be fine" Lan thought, "Just like in the story books, they’ll all be fine!"

Seeing the edge of the tree line, Lan put on an extra burst of speed and broke through, emerging on the side of the village where the Grimm’s assault had originally begun. He stopped in his tracks as he took in the state of the town that was spread out before him. Many of the buildings were burning, mostly near the center of the village where the force-field generator was supposed to be (surprisingly Byakko’s home was still in good condition, only slightly blackened). 

The bodies of both man and Grimm were scattered all over the ground along with broken weapons, pieces of rubble, and pools of liquid that Lan recognized as blood. 

Struck dumb by the situation, Lan began to slowly walk forward towards the destroyed town. He gazed back and forth across the carnage, the lifeless faces of the villagers staring back at him. Due to the intense training Byakko had put him through, Lan had a stronger mind than most children his age. But still, he wasn’t able to fully comprehend the situation; he continued on in a daze. One of the wolves plodded over to him and licked his hand. The pain that came from stimulating his broken arm snapped Lan out of his stupor. Sorrow and desperation came crashing down on him like a torrent. He gasped and began hyperventilating and then dropped to his knees. 

“Dead” he said, only half-believing his own words “all dead, all—”

It was then that he remembered another piece of advice Byakko had given him when he was having difficulty learning some kicking styles and had begun complaining.

“Even when things seem to be at their worst, never let yourself be swallowed by despair. Always think of what you can do to fix the situation, if only a little. At the very least you’ll blame yourself a lot less later on.”

Taking a deep breath, Lan began thinking of what he could do right now, and single word popped into his mind.

“Survivors” Lan thought, that single word igniting his hope “I got to look for survivors.”

Lan jumped back to his feet, albeit they were still slightly shaky, and ran throughout the battlefield, checking every corpse he came across. However, after 10 minutes of searching he hadn’t found a single breathing form. He had lifted corpses, searched ditches, and checked every nook and cranny, but couldn’t find anyone. He had slowed to a walk now, his momentary enthusiasm began to die off and despair quickly began to settle in again. But after walking a few more meters, he noticed a large bulking piece of metal protruding from the landscape some distance away. Recognizing it as Rowan's combat mech, Lan ran forward to check on it, hoping that Rowan was okay. 

“Rowan’s combat mech is pretty strong” Lan thought to himself, desperation spreading throughout his body “Rowan…probably just got knocked out and is still in there. Yeah, I got to go help him.” 

Lan was nearing the machine now, and not seeing Rowan around the backside of it Lan ran around to the other side.

“I got to get him out and treat him, and then he’ll be fine he’ll be—”

Lan rounded the corner of the machine and stopped in his tracks. Rowan’s body lay there completely still, but where Rowan’s head was supposed to be was foot shaped hole in the ground. 

Trembling and on the verge of tears, Lan walked over and looked into the hole. Screaming in fear, Lan fell onto his backside and began sobbing. 

“Rowan” he murmured between sobs “Rowan.”

He felt three cold wet noses press against his back. Turning his head, Lan stared into the sympathetic eyes of the three wolves who came with him. In their eyes he saw their sympathy for his situation, but he also noticed them glance deeper into the village every now and then. The wolves knew that if they wanted to save anyone else they had to hurry further into the village and fast. Staring into their eyes, Lan began to get back control of himself. Lan quickly got to his feet, shook his head to clear his mind, lifted his shoulder slightly and wiped his eyes on his gi.

“No time to cry Lan” he said to himself, biting his lip and forcing back his emotions “got to get moving, there may still be people I can save!”

Looking down once more at Rowan’s corpse, Lan placed his hands together and offered him a silent prayer. He then ran towards the center of the village. As he ran he began scanning the area for any sign of movement, there could still be people alive among the many corpses that littered the ground that he hadn’t looked through yet or maybe there were still Grimm around. In either case he had to be ready to act at a moment’s notice.

He had arrived in the village square by this time; here he saw signs of a last stand. Mounds of dead Grimm were piled up against what used to be a barricade, which now had a gaping hole through the middle of it. On the other side, there were just as much if not more human corpses. Lan walked through the hole in the wall and began surveying the corpses for survivors. A tight bundle of nerves was currently wrapped around Lan’s brain, helping him keep a calm mind even in this most dire of situations. He recognized many of the faces as he walked by, each lifeless expression threatening to break him once again. There was Alex, one of the village carpenters, Maria, a baker, and many many others. Lan had to tighten the nerves more and more as he passed every corpse. Lan passed the last pile of bodies and stopped in his tracks. 

He gasped quietly. There, sitting next to each other and leaning on the side of a building, were Anna and Hiroshi both of them with bloody holes in their stomachs. Their eyes gazed into the heavens, unseeing and unfeeling. 

Lan felt his strength leave his body as he looked down at them, although he was able to prevent himself from breaking down, tears began to flow out of each of his eyes. He slowly walked over to them, stumbling here and there, until he stood before them. Hiroshi’s twin blades were lying in his open hands, and Anna was holding her cudgels in hers. They had gone down fighting. Lan stood there for a few moments, just staring at them. Eventually reason managed to pierce through the mist that had filled his mind, and he knew that he had to move on like the little warrior he was. With great pain and effort, he lifted up his broken hand and closed their eyes. He had expected this, knew from what he had seen around him that their chances of survival were slim at best. He clenched his hands and winced as he felt the broken pieces of bone in his arm pierce his flesh. 

He stood there for a few minutes longer unable to move, his young mind slowly being tempered in the flames of anger and cooled in icy despair. 

All of a sudden he heard an explosion, followed by screaming. He whipped around and saw smoke coming from the direction of the shelter in the distance. Realizing that there were still survivors, Lan dashed in the direction of the shelter, hoping that he wouldn’t be too late and that he would be able to find the creatures that did this to everyone.  
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“Fire!” shouted Gregory.

In response to his command, many dust rifles went off simultaneously, peppering the group of Grimm in front of them and sending many of the to the ground. The remaining villagers were currently holed up in the safe house and had barricaded all openings. The safe house was a circular three story building with large hallways on the outside and living quarters within. The hallways all had small windows facing all directions to allow for those inside to survey all around them. 

The remaining villagers had equipped themselves with the weaponry that had been stored there and were defending themselves from the Grimm that were surrounding them. They were holding out rather well, many of the villagers having done this sort of thing before Byakko became a resident. Thankfully, the force of Grimm had thinned considerable thanks to the efforts of Hiroshi and the village militia and none of them were of a highly dangerous level (like deathstalkers and nevermores). Slowly but the Grimm were being thinned out. But, like in the previous battle, the humanoid Grimm was standing on a nearby hill, watching as its brethren were slowly being gunned down. 

“Look” shouted Gregory, noticing the Grimm “there on the hill!” 

Many of the sharpshooters in the windows turned their attention to the Grimm on the hill and then began unloading their rounds into it. The glowing shots whizzed through the air and peppered the area where the Grimm stood. A large amount of soil was kicked up by this barrage, and soon made it impossible to clearly see the Grimm. But they could hear what sounded like ricochets from deep within the din. Slowly, the rest of the sharpshooters joined in after they cleaned up the last Grimm on their sides of the building. 

Gregory stood, staring into the depths of the growing cloud. 

“They’re really goin at it.” He thought, watching all the ammo being wasted “but I guess it’s understandable. They want to make 110% sure that that monster is de—“

All of a sudden he noticed something. The ricochet sound that had been ringing through the grounds had suddenly disappeared. 

“Hold!” he shouted at the shooters “hold your fire!”

One by one they stopped until the whole area was filled with an eerie silence. Slowly, the dust settled and when it had cleared, they discovered that the Grimm was gone. A few made comments of it being blasted to dust, but those with better heads on their shoulders knew that could never happen with the caliber of weapons that were fired at it.

All of a sudden there was a scream from the around the corner in another hallway. A few men ran to go check, and a few seconds later their death cries could be heard as well. Alarmed, Gregory called for the men to train their guns at the ends of the hallways. All those near him formed two walls, each pointing their rifles at one end of the hallway. While the men were focused on the sides, Gregory stuck his head out the window to get a final reconnaissance. The bodies of dead Grimm littered the ground, every single one dead. Gregory couldn’t see anything dangerous outside and was about to pull his head in when out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a window three stories below him. The window was broken. He was thinking about what this could mean when someone grabbed his shoulder with a vice like grip. 

“Let go man. I’m thinking here.” 

When the grip didn’t loosen, Gregory turned his head to give the person grabbing him a piece of his mind. The words caught in his throat. What had grabbed his shoulder wasn’t human. It was the humanoid Grimm, which was wearing a frightening smile. The lines of guards blocking both ends of the hallway were still there, unawares of the creature that had slipped behind their lines unnoticed. Gregory opened his mouth to yell for a retreat, but was caught in the face with a black fist which launched him out of the window and crashing down to the ground 2 stories below. As he hit the ground, he felt his bones shatter. He lay gasping for breath with blood dribbling out of his mouth. It was a few moments later that we heard the screaming, the shredding sounds, and the disappearance of voices. He struggled to get up, but was unable to even move. He had been lucky to even survive the fall. Minutes passed as the sounds of conflict inside continued, and suddenly there was complete silence. Gregory gazed at the building, hoping desperately that he would soon see people running outside. 

The building exploded.

An explosion of reddish-black energy blasted the building to smithereens, sending a huge cloud of debris into the air. At the base of the dust cloud where the safe house used to be, Gregory could see two glowing eyes and a smiling, fanged mouth. 

A single tear rolled down Gregory’s cheek as he now saw that there would be no survivors. But as the creature slowly began to advance on him, he was able to find a little bit of solace. Lan hadn’t come to the safe house, and knowing Hiroshi, the old soldier would never have let Lan join the fight. 

“Lan is safe” thought Gregory, closing his eyes as the creature stood over him. “At the very least there’s that.”

Gregory felt an armored foot touch against his face and slowly increase in pressure. 

“I’ve had a good long run” thought Gregory “and fought to my last breath along with everyone else. Hope they forgive me for being such a crappy commander on the other side.”

Gregory was fully prepared now, and was waiting for the pain to stop.

“Gregory!” he heard someone cry.

He opened one eye and saw Lan standing there with a horrified expression on his young face.

“NO!” thought Gregory “not—“

He wasn’t able to finish the thought. His head was already gone.  
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Lan watched as the Grimm pulled its foot away from Gregory’s corpse. Initially Lan felt empty, his mind completely cut off from his surroundings. He felt nothing, heard nothing, and smelled nothing. The only thing in his mind was the scene that he saw in front of him with all the villagers, his family, lying unmoving in the pile of rubble that used to be the safe house and strewn all over the ground. All of a sudden, feeling came rushing back to him along with a boiling rage. The wrath exploded within him and grew in volume with each new corpse that came into his vision. His vision then focused on the Grimm standing there in the middle of the carnage, appearing to be smiling at him. 

“I’ll kill you.” Lan said gritting his teeth, tears were now streaming down his face, and all reason within him was being covered up by his seething wrath inside of him.

The wolves that were with him began growling as they sensed Lan’s rage and they began to glow with red light.

“I’LL KILL YOUUU!!!” Lan yelled, and charged forward, clenching his fists and ignoring the shards of broken bone that tore through his skin. 

The three wolves with him also shot forward, shooting past Lan with incredible speed, and hurtled toward the Grimm, their fangs bared. 

Lan had the sight the three wolves ahead of him, three glowing missiles heading toward the Grimm. 

Lan blinked, and when he opened his eyes again he was staring straight into the Grimm’s eyes, only inches away from its face. The three wolves were behind it; they were flying through the air in mid jump but they were no longer glowing red with aura. They now each had long gashes on the sides of their bodies and were twisting through the air as they fell. The Grimm had torn through them in less than a second. 

Instinctively, Lan brought up his knees and brought down his arms to protect his torso. Almost immediately after, the Grimm’s fist smashed into Lan’s guard. Luckily, Lan had recovered a little bit of aura that was just enough to prevent any more broken bones. However, the force of the impact sent him flying a few dozen yards away, where he crashed onto the ground coughing and spluttering. A few seconds later, after the pain subsided a bit Lan lifted up his head slightly and stared in the direction of the Grimm.

It was simply standing there smiling, it’s head tilted back slightly in a mocking gesture.

“This thing is playing with me!” Lan realized “It could have easily finished me off, but that would be too boring for the damn thing wouldn’t it. It wants to enjoy this hunt.”

Lan tried to get up but found that he couldn’t move. The adrenaline and small amounts of aura that had been sustaining him earlier had run out. 

He felt his consciousness fading. He taken too much damage and was no longer able to stay conscious. 

“No” Lan thought, straining to get up as he felt himself slipping “Got…to…fight. Must…avenge……”

With those broken thoughts Lan passed out, his head plopping down on the grass 

The Grimm smiled and walked forward towards the boy’s supine form. Once it was close enough it looked down on him, lifted its foot up slowly, and brought it down hard and fast. The Grimm smiled, its job finally done and then turned its head as it prepared to leave. But it found that its foot was rooted in place. Looking down the Grimm saw a blue hand formed of pulsating energy sticking out of the boy’s chest, its fingers wrapped tightly around the Grimm’s black foot.

With a flash of blue light, the Grimm was blasted away from Lan. While it was flying backwards, it quickly oriented itself and landed on its feet. The Grimm stared at the boy and watched as a blue energy began flowing out of the boy’s body. Once it had fully emerged, it coalesced together and formed the shape of a man. The energy then solidified and took on a solid form. Floating there was what appeared to be a man, formed from bluish crystal and pulsating energy. In its chest was the very same 4-pointed crystal that had appeared on Lan’s chest when the boy had fought the 1st humanoid Grimm. It turned back and looked at Lan’s passed out form.

“What a fool you were” whispered the being. Its voice sounded like a strong wind passing through the leaves of trees, soft yet strong at the same time. “You could have been killed this day mine host. But luckily I was aware enough of my surroundings to come to your aid.”

The being turned and looked at the Grimm with its glowing blue eyes.

“Vile spawn of darkness” it said, raising its arms into the air. “Your existence ends here.”

Energy began to gather in the being’s palms, forming pulsating azure spheres. The Grimm roared and charged forward, closing the distance between them in an instant, it then pivoted on its left foot and threw a kick at the being’s head.

The attack passed through the being’s energy body harmlessly. 

“Foolish creature” the being said.

The Grimm was off balance from the large attack it just threw, and its back was facing the being. The being then thrust out its palm and struck the Grimm on its lower back, which was just below its crystals. The force of the blow blasted the Grimm away. While in midair, the Grimm lashed out with one of its claws which dug into the earth to stop help stop its momentum. It flew a couple more meters, tearing up the ground as it went. It then landed on both of its feet and lifted its head to look in the being’s direction. 

It was greeted with a fist to the face. The blow landed cleanly on the Grimm’s jaw and put it a few inches in the air.

“You are not able to touch me.” The being said, pulling back its fists. “But I am more capable of touching you.”

The being unleashed a barrage of punches at the Grimm, pummeling every inch of the Grimm’s body with its energy laden fists. The Grimm was twisting through the air like a rag doll, unable to counter the being’s barrage. All of a sudden, the being stopped its assault. The Grimm quickly recovered its footing and threw a punch in the being’s direction. The punch hit empty air, the being had couched down below the Grimm and had gathered a good deal of energy into its palm. It thrust out its hand and struck the Grimm in the stomach. The Grimm was blasted backwards and flew through the air until it collided with the side of a house, smashing through to the center of the building. Weakened from fire, the house collapsed, burying the Grimm underneath. 

With a roar of rage, the Grimm burst forward from the rubble and landed on its feet.

At that moment, it was struck in the face with a bolt of blue energy that the being had fired from its palm. The Grimm was then caught in a rapid fire barrage of the being’s blasts its body recoiling from every blast that struck it as if it were being attacked with rapid fire artillery. 

Once the barrage ended, the Grimm was dazed and stood there slowly swaying from side to side. This was the perfect moment for a final blow, and the being took full advantage of it. The being then began moving its hands in a fluid circular motion, gathering and focusing a large amount of energy. Soon after the being brought its palms close together near its chest, where it began to mold the energy it had collected into a sphere. By this time the Grimm had shaken off its dizziness and now perceived the threat that confronted it. It roared and then charged at the being. The orb between the being’s palms had now reached the size of a beach ball and was pulsating with bluish energy. The being looked up at the charging Grimm, which was now only a few meters away, and spoke.

“Be gone speck of darkness”

The being fired a ray of energy from the sphere at the Grimm. The beam of energy was so large that it completely engulfed the creature. It completely vaporized everything in its path, and threw up a large cloud of dust. The beam lasted around 10 seconds, and then slowly shrunk in size until it blinked out.

The being dropped its arms to its sides, and observed the vast dust cloud that had formed in front of it. 

“You were never my equal” the being said, and then turned back towards Lan.

Suddenly a sharp pain erupted around its back region. The being turned its head and saw a fist, covered in crackling red energy, touching its back. The being quickly floated away and turned to look into the cloud of dust.

A low growling noise could be heard from within, and the glowing shape of two eyes and a mouth could be seen piercing through the cloud. The Grimm stepped out, its shape now slightly different. Its body had grown slightly larger and there were more black spikes protruding from its body, but the most striking difference was that one of the 5 spikes on its back was glowing with a bright darkish-red light and was sending tendrils of crackling energy all over the Grimm’s body. 

“Interesting” thought the being, “Not only has it grown more powerful, but now seems to possess the capability to harm my immaterial form” the being made note of the energy that covered the Grimm’s body.

“It seems this will be more difficult than I had previously believed.”

The Grimm roared and charge forward, now even faster than it was before. The being quickly dodged out of the way and then proceeded to launch its own martial attacks. The two of the dodged, blocked, and attacked each other with the precision of master martial artists. The being wondered where a Grimm had learned these skills, but had not the time to think of this problem at length, it had to devote all of its concentration to this battle. 

The first to make a big mistake was the Grimm, it threw a tremendous kick, but was unable to regain its footing in time. The being slammed its elbow into the Grimm’s stomach, this time the blow had powerful piercing qualities and created a crack in the Grimm’s armor. The force of the blow also sent it skidding backwards. The Grimm quickly regained its footing however. 

“Hmmm” the being thought “It seems we are evenly ma—”

Two of the other crystals suddenly lit up and unleashed a torrent of energy around the Grimm. The Grimm roared as its physical features once again changed. Its body grew in volume, and was now almost twice as large as it used to be. Its claws grew longer, its hands now the size of trash can lids, and finally, red glowing lines spread out from the crystal and covered the beings entire body, looking like a series of red, glowing canals.

The being stared at the creature.

“To have pushed me this far, I commend you, but this is where our struggle ends.”

The being placed its hand over the crystal. A bright blue light began to emanate from it and coils of flowing energy enveloped the being. In less than a second the light faded and the being’s transformation was complete. Its blue ethereal body was now encased in what appeared to be white crystal armor. Metallic Horn-like structures protruded from the being’s head, as well as from its elbows. 

“Come” said the being.

The Grimm dashed forward, slamming its fist into the ground where the being had been standing only milliseconds before. It was then elbowed in the left side of face, the white spike piercing though its black cheek. The Grimm slammed its right foot down, to prevent itself from being blasted away and then threw a punch at the being. But it had already slipped behind the Grimm. The being’s target were the three unlit crystals on the Grimm’s back. With the activation of just two of the crystals, the being sensed that the Grimm was near its level of power, even with the assistance of the ancient light shard it carried. If more were activate, there was no telling what could happen. 

The being brought its aura coated hand down on one of the crystals. An energy field surrounding the crystal stopped the blow in its tracks. The energies crackled against each other, each attempting to smother the other. Suddenly the Grimm’s crystal lit up and fired a beam of malevolent energy at the being, who managed to defend against it with its aura shield but was knocked away. The being skidded across the ground, forming two parallel ruts where its feet cut the ground, but quickly stabilized itself and turned to look at the Grimm. Once again, the Grimm had grown in size and shape with the lighting of another crystal.

The being could sense that the Grimm was now significantly more powerful that it was, each of its crystals seemed to be as powerful as the one the being possesed. It knew that it could no longer win. It turned its head to look at Lan, who was lying unconscious on the ground, and then shook its head. It had already assessed the situation and had made a decision. 

“Watching your life was interesting child” the being said, beginning to gather its energy in its feet “But I never planned on dying for you. The role I must play is far too important. Goodbye.”

The being rocketed into the air with a burst of energy, leaving the boy behind. The Grimm watched the being soar higher and higher into the sky and smiled.

After the being had reached a high enough elevation where it believed it would be out of range of the Grimm’s attacks, it stopped and just levitated there. The being surveyed the area below it. The town was ablaze in many places with many of the buildings destroyed. The tranquil visage of nature that surrounded it was a stark contrast, as if to show how easily peace can turn to war. 

“It was an interesting place” the being said, looking over it one last time “but now it is time to g—”

All of a sudden the being noticed a bright red glow below it and glanced down. The Grimm now had all five of the crystals on its back lit, and the energy from the crystals was surging towards a massive energy sphere that was forming in front of its mouth. It was aimed at the being. Alarmed the being began to fly away from the village, increasing its speed in hopes to escape the blast. A few seconds later the Grimm unleashed the energy, firing the giant beam at the being’s fleeing form. The beam flew through the air, quickly gaining on the being. Realizing that it wouldn’t be able to escape, the being stopped and gathered all of his energy in order to form a protective barrier around itself. The moment that the barrier was solid, the Grimm’s energy blast slammed into it, enveloping the protective sphere in its malevolent energy. The being grunted with effort as it tried to maintain the barrier, but cracks were beginning to form. The crystal on the being’s chest shone brightly, amplifying its powers. But with all five crystals lit, the Grimm was far more powerful than the being was, even with the crystal’s assistance. The being was forcing every last bit of its energy into the barrier, every last portion of the strength he and the gem had accumulated after many years of existence, but it was to no avail. The barrier smashed open and the being was exposed to the destructive force of the blast. It screamed as it felt its body being blasted apart. Its body was slowly consumed by the energy until nothing remained. The last thing to remain was the gem, which twinkled brightly before shattering and fading from existence.

Now that its main body was gone, the being’s existence transferred itself to the nearest sources of compatible energy, which were the remnants of power that it had left within Lan’s body. It was very weak now, the energy that it had left behind was miniscule, about the amount of aura that a mouse would have. Quickly, realizing its situation, the being tried to force its way out of Lan’s body so that it may somehow escape. But it quickly found it was unable to do so, reduced to its current level, the being was now being suppressed by Lan’s soul which was now the dominant of the two. Unless Lan wished it, the being would not be able to leave his body and right now the boy wasn’t capable of wishing anything.

The Grimm, now the size of an ursa major (but far more powerful) walked over to Lan’s supine form and gazed down. It then lifted up its right foot and, with a roar, stomped down on Lan’s face. 

Out of nowhere, a large fist crashed into the side of the Grimm’s face before it could finish the bloody act, contorting the Grimm’s features. The force of the impact blew the Grimm several yards away, saving Lan from being crushed into paste. 

“HEY DIPSHIT!” said a deep, gravely voice dripping with anger “WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU ABOUT TO DO TO MY GRANDSON!?”

The Grimm looked up and stared into the eyes of a very angry white tiger Faunus.   
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Byakko stood in front of his incapacitated grandson. His eyes were filled with rage as he stared down the Grimm. He then looked at the many corpses that were strewn all over the ground and the anger in his eyes was replaced with sorrow. 

“So I was too late” Byakko said placing his hand over his right eye. “I’m sorry everyone. I wasn’t able to protect you all.”

With a roar the Grimm dashed forward and threw a punch at Byakko’s face. With a deft movement, Byakko easily caught the fist and nullified the force of the blow.

“But don’t worry everyone” Byakko said, tightening the fist that held the Grimm’s hand. 

There was a cracking noise as the Grimm’s fist began to shatter. The Grimm screamed and tried to pull back its hand, but to no avail.

“I’LL MAKE SURE TO SEND THIS BASTARD TO KEEP YOU ALL COMPANY!”

Byakko crushed the Grimm’s hand, his eyes now filled with resolution. The Grimm screamed in pain and pulled the stump that was now its right arm away. Before the Grimm had moved a single step, Byakko landed an earth-shattering punch on the Grimm’s abdomen. The Grimm planted its feet and dug its toes into the ground, determined to keep its position, but to its surprise found itself looking up at the ground. It flew through the air for dozens of meters until it finally crashed into a group of buildings. Within a few moments it burst from the rubble, its body now coursing with energy from the crystals. The influx of energy in its body quickly healed its wounds and regenerated its destroyed arm.

On the opposite side of the field Byakko stood with his arms folded. 

“You won’t be leaving here alive” Byakko said, his body now coursing with white aura. 

The energy began to swirl around him like a twister, ruffling his clothes and hair. The Grimm stepped forward, prepared to attack, but stopped as it noticed something. It was something that only martial masters and those that possessed heightened instincts were able to see. Behind Byakko was the silhouette of a massive white tiger. The Grimm, who had no soul and was supposed to feel nothing, was, for an instant, struck with fear as it gazed upon this avatar of power and violence. 

What’s wrong?!” Byakko said, the mocking in his voice evident and his body silhouetted by the power that had taken from behind him“You look like you’ve seen a monster!”

Overcoming its momentary cowardice, the Grimm roared and charged at Byakko, its arms spread it out. Byakko just calmly stood there as the raging monster sped towards him. Within a few milliseconds, the Grimm had closed the distance. Its body coursing with crackling red energy, it began to throw blow after blow at Byakko. The strikes flew through the air and struck their target faster than the bullets fired out of a minigun. Each strike had enough power to smash through stone and crush bones as they released impulses of powerful energy, but Byakko just stood there calmly, receiving the whirlwind of punches and kicks as though they were nothing but mosquito bites. After 30 seconds of the barrage, the Grimm began to slow down, until eventually it stopped. It was breathing heavily now and had its head bent down.

“Is that it?” Byakko said, raising an eyebrow.

The Grimm looked up and roared. Its outcry was interrupted as Byakko smashed its jaw with his elbow, crushing the armor around its face. Once again, the force of the attack threw the Grimm into the air. Having already experienced it once, the Grimm shot out one of its legs into the ground before it flew to high in order to gain some traction. Its momentum still caused it to be carried forward however, the friction from the ground was helping though and slowed down the Grimm down as it formed a massive scar in the land. Once the Grimm stopped it collapsed onto its hands and knees. Energy from the crystals surged outwards and began to repair the Grimm’s face and heal its wounds. Gritting its teeth, it forced itself onto its hands and knees and lifted its head to stare at Byakko. The crystals on its back began to glow with a strong light. The Grimm opened its mouth and the energy began to form an orb. 

With an almost instantaneous movement, Byakko covered the distance between the two of them and stopped right in front of the Grimm. Startled, the Grimm pointed the orb at Byakko and fired. Right as the energy was beginning to blast forward, Byakko shot out his hand and seized the Grimm’s face in a vice like grip. Having its frontal path blocked by Byakko’s neigh impenetrable palm, the energy escaped in the other direction and blasted backwards, enveloping the Grimm’s skull. Everything behind the Grimm was disintegrated by the widening beam of energy. It blasted through house after house until finally; it broke through the last line and headed out to sea where it created a massive explosion in the distance. As soon as the energy dissipated Byakko tightened his grip on the Grimm’s skull, which resulted in a cracking sound. Byakko then lifted the Grimm up and smashed its head down into the ground, shattering the ground and forming a medium sized crater. 

“That was for Hiroshi” Byakko said, gritting his teeth, 

“and this” he said, once again lifting the Grimm’s skull up “Is for Anna!”

Byakko began to smash the Grimm’s skull into the ground over and over again, each time he shouted out the name of one of the deceased villagers. For every name, a tear slid down Byakko’s face, for every name the Grimm cried out in pain, for every name Byakko’s grip grew stronger. After saying the last name he released the Grimm’s skull. The Grimm crashed to the ground twitching. 

“Don’t think we’re done yet!” 

Byakko lifted his right foot above the Grimm’s head. 

“This!” he said, bringing it down “Is for destroying out village!”

His foot smashed into the ground, burying the Grimm’s head deep under, chasming the ground, the Grimm’s body, with the exception of its head which was still in the ground, was sent upwards as rocks blasted out of the ground and collided with its frame.  
“And this last one!” Byakko said, pulling back his right arm “Is for Lan!”

Byakko threw a backhand infused with a good deal of his aura. His forearm collided with the tips of the crystals on the Grimm’s back. White light clashed with reddish-black energy, each competing for dominancy. But the white light overwhelmed the Grimm’s energy, enveloping the crystals in its luminescence. The crystals pierced right through the Grimm and then blasted out of it. They shot through the air like arrows, piercing through building after building, until they finally became lodged in a far-off wall at the end of the village.

Byakko was about to start beating it again, when he noticed something was different. Byakko lifted his foot off of the now immobile Grimm, and stared down at it. He then reached down, grabbed it by the back of the neck and lifted the limp body into the air. Cocking his head to one side, Byakko stared at it, confused. He sensed a life pulsating from this creature he now held in his hand, but gone was the malevolent presence of a Grimm. As he contemplated this strange finding, cracks began to form in the Grimm’s armor. Pieces of the black shell began to break off in chunks of varying sizes, each piece vaporizing into thin air as soon as it hit the ground. What Byakko now held was what seemed to be a clump of shadows in the shape of a man. Slowly, the shadows began to peel off, slivers detaching from the mass and disappearing into the air. As soon as the final layer peeled away, Bykko found himself staring at the form of a wounded old man wearing a martial monk’s robes. The man was completely bald, had extremely pale skin, and had a good physique. The old man’s eyes opened and after a few seconds focused on Byakko. Byakko could sense that the man didn’t have much life force left, with every second the vital energy was flowing out of his form. 

“Who are you?” Byakko asked.

The old man’s eyes gazed around him, taking in the scenes all about. He then smiled and closed his eyes.

“Thank….you” he said with a weak raspy voice. 

His body then began to crumble, his form petrifying, cracking apart and turning into powder. Within the span of a few seconds, the man became a pile of white dust on the ground. Scratching his head, Byakko turned about and began to walk towards Lan.

Far away, on the other side of the village the crystals in the stone wall began to glow. Then with a burst of light, they detached themselves from the wall and began to float in the air. They then began to slowly drift through the air in a circle. Their former body had just been destroyed. It was time to select a new host; and what better than the being that so easily crushed their previous form. Yes, with his indomitable force they would be unstoppable. Having decided, they shot through the air towards the presence of the being. Flying through the air like sparrows, they dodged buildings and other debris that got in their way. Eventually their powerful new form came into sight. The crystals then oriented themselves point first, aiming for the old man’s exposed back. They were closing in, 12 meters, 6 meters, 1 meter. 

With a lightning fast movement Byakko’s hand shot out and snatched the crystals from the air. The crystals struggled against Byakko’s vice-like grip, but to no avail. They were caught. 

“Think I’m that senseless do you?” Byakko said, staring at the crystals “Think I couldn’t sense you little things all that distance away?”

Byakko began to tighten his grip. 

“You things have killed so many of my friends and hurt my grandson bad. I’ve just two words for ya before I turn you into dust. {profanity} you.”

Byakko tightened his grip. Cracks were now beginning to from in the crystals, leaking out a reddish-black glow. 

The crystals formed a barrier around themselves and tried to force their way out of Byakko’s hand with pulses of energy. But Byakko simply smiled as the crystals tried to force their way free from his grip. In the past Byakko had crushed many an “indestructible” object in his hands out of either necessity or boredom and compared to some of them the force given off by the crystals was nothing. 

With one explosive burst of power he crushed the barrier and wrapped his fingers around the crystals. They vibrated in his hands and released a menagerie of different projectiles and fields in order to get free, but Byakko’s grip stayed firm, unyielding in the face of the small relentless assault. Then, with a grunt, Byakko crushed the crystals in pieces. A bright yet somehow dark light exploded out of the gems as they fell into ruin, and then slowly faded away. Byakko opened his hand and stared at the now broken pieces of what was now black crystal. He then threw them onto the ground like they were pieces of useless garbage and turned back to Lan.

He knelt down beside the boy and placed a hand on Lan’s forehead. 

“Sorry” he said.

The usual jovial tone was now gone from Byakko’s voice, all his feelings of merriment now submerged under a wave of sorrow and guilt. He checked the boy’s condition and found that there wasn’t anything too critical, except that the massive amount of aura that the boy once held within him was gone. Dismissing the irregularity as the result of Lan’s exhaustion, Byakko took off the top part of the gi he was wearing, tore it into two pieces, and made a pillow and blanket for Lan to use. He then placed his hands on Lan’s small form and began to flow aura in to heal him. It wouldn’t fix some of the more serious injuries like the broken arms, but it could still help.

After he finished, he turned around and stared at the village surrounding him. The flames danced across the destroyed buildings and the corpses of all of his friends that he had spent more than ten years of his life with were reflected in his gray eyes. 

“If…only I had never left…If only I had gotten here sooner instead of playing around with those Grimm in the mountains.”

Byakko then got on his knees, bent over, and touched his head and palms to the ground, silently begging all the departed to forgive him for his incompetence. 

“But…I guess it’s to be expected” Byakko said getting up. “After all, this world is unforgiving. Nothing at all like a fairy tale.”

With his last thoughts spoken, Byakko sat there; watching as the flames slowly die away, a sentinel over Lan’s sleeping form. After a few hours the light of the flames had died away and they were smothered in the darkness of night. During that time Byakko sat and thought, wondering about what he and Lan would do from now on.  
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Madame Zeroni watched as the dark enveloped the ancient star. Yet another potential savior destroyed. The star still lived, as it was protected by a powerful white sun, but its destiny had been destroyed. Fate no longer had any plans for it. She sighed and turned her attention to the Red, White, Black, and Yellow stars. 

“It seems that they will now be the hope for this generation” she thought. “Let’s hope they fare better than the blue one.”

She then turned and headed back into her home, never noticing that the blue star had been surrounded by blank space in the sky. The blank space didn’t mean that everything was over for the boy, oh no. 

Like an artist must always start with a clean sheet, some “destinies” start out as things that are uncontrolled by fate. What the small blue star had to do now was paint its own picture. Fate, after all, had now handed it the paint and easel. What it will become…well, who knows?


	12. Chapter 12

Ch 12 The start

Thought. These eclectic entities were now beginning to awaken within Lan’s mind. It was dark all around him. Lan began to panic because of this but soon realized it was because his eyes were closed. Slowly but surely, feeling began to surface from the dark sea where it had been hiding ever since his consciousness had disappeared. The first thing Lan felt was sharp pain, running through every facet of his body. He groaned as the pain grew stronger as feeling returned to his limbs. The next sense to return to him was smell, and with it came a horrible repugnant odor that smelt of a combination sour sweat, unwashed undergarments, wheezy old man, and ancient sea food. There was only one thing that Lan could think of that smelled this bad, his Grandfather Byakko. Lan sensed that he was currently covered in the material and began to lift up one of his arms to cast them off. But found that he couldn’t move it. His arm felt like it was encased in something, preventing him from making any large movements. 

Groaning, Lan slowly opened his eyes. His vision was filled with the visage of the pre-dawn sky, a purplish sky bits of sunlight just beginning to brighten the horizon. He looked down and saw that both of his arms were in makeshift casts made out of ruined garments and scraps of wood. For the first few moments Lan couldn’t remember a thing. What was he doing sleeping outside and why were his arms in casts? The realization struck him a few seconds later. The memories came roaring back like a tidal wave, burying him beneath its soul-crushing surface. 

He forced himself to sit up, ignoring the pain that shot through his body like electricity. Looking around, Lan gazed at the devastated village surrounding him. But strangely, all the bodies had disappeared. Confused, Lan slowly rose to his feet.

“Hello!?” he called, “Is anyone there?”

There was no response. Lan looked around once more, searching for some sign of life, but when he found nothing he began to walk towards the center of the village. As he wandered through the town, he found no corpses. Lan wanted to believe what he saw last night was a dream, that the horrors had just been a figment of his imagination. But there was so much evidence quashing that hopeful thought: the destroyed buildings, the battle scarred land, and his severe injuries. As he contemplated this he heard a crunching noise coming from nearby and stopped in his tracks.

“Hello?” Lan said timidly. Lan was in no condition to fight right now, if even a simple beowolf attacked him he might be in trouble. 

Turning this way and that Lan tried to pinpoint the source of the sound. Suddenly the crunching noise began to speed up, as if something was now running. 

Lan’s heart was beating fast.

“I have to get out of here” he thought, and took off deeper into the village, looking for some good cover.

He passed home after destroyed home, until finally he found one that had all four walls still intact. Dashing inside, Lan found a table, kicked it down, and used it to form a barricade against the front door. Panting, Lan collapsed behind the table. After taking a few moments to catch his breath, he began to listen. The footfalls had disappeared. After waiting a few minutes to make sure nothing was out there, Lan slowly stood up and peeked over the top of the table. The street in front of him was empty. He peeked to the left and the right, listening for any signs that something was there. It seemed that whatever had been running was gone. Sighing in relief, Lan stood up, pushed the table out of the way, and stepped outside.

Wham!

Lan was tackled from the side by a red blur and crashed into the ground. Screaming, Lan tried to force the creature off of him, but with his arms bound it was impossible. He saw a line of razor sharp teeth making their way towards his face. Closing his eyes, Lan braced himself for the bite.

But instead was greeted by the sensation of a rough, wet tongue covering his face. 

“Ack, Ptoo” 

Lan struggled and spat as the tasting instrument continued to smother his face. After it was finally removed he opened his eyes and found a happy little wolf pup standing on him. 

“Ignis!” Lan cried out in relief “you little rascal, you scared me.”

Getting up, Lan looked down at the little dog. 

“What are you doing here?”

Ignis yipped and whimpered as he rubbed against Lan’s legs. He then turned around and headed toward one of the edges of the village. After going a few meters he turned around and barked at Lan to follow. Shrugging his shoulder, Lan ran after the little wolf, not like he had any idea where to look anyways. After running for several minutes, Lan noticed that a thick mist was beginning to rise and obscure his vision. The mist was coming from the ocean that was now beginning to warm up. Yelling at Ignis to slow down, Lan tried to keep track of him as his vision grew more and more obscured. Eventually he found himself running through a world of grey fog. Unable to tell what direction he was going in, he ended up bumping into many objects as he tried to keep up. But after a little while, he lost sight of Ignis.

“Hey little buddy!” Lan called out, “come back here. I need you to guide me.”

But Ignis showed no signs of returning. Lan was now lost in the fog. Sighing, Lan looked around hoping to find some kind of landmark through the mist. But everywhere he looked there was nothing but grey cloud. He then began to walk in the direction he believed Ignis had disappeared in, thinking there was nothing else to lose. 

After walking for several minutes, Lan was gasping for air and his limbs were crying out in pain. He was quite surprised, this level of physical exertion had never exhausted him this much before. 

“Ugh, I must be more injured than I thought.”

Finally, Lan had had enough and he plopped down onto the ground to rest.

“I guess I just stay here till the fog lifts.”

“Or you could just follow me!” someone yelled.

Lan leaped to his feet, his heart beating like a jackhammer, and turned around. Standing there was Byakko with a slight grin on his face.

“Scared you didn’t I?”

“Grandpa” Lan said, running over and embracing the smelly muscular man “You’re back!”

Byakko patted Lan’s head and then hugged the boy back.

“Hey” said Lan, disengaging from the hug “Did you find any survivors form the attack?”

Lan’s exuberance from seeing his grandfather had died away and was now replaced with concern. 

“I…know a lot of people died…but there had to have been some people right?”

The grin disappeared from Byakko’s face and was replaced by a calm and solemn expression. Lan looked up, concerned. 

“Is something wrong?”

“I…think it would be better if you saw for yourself.” Byakko replied. “Follow me.”

Turning around, Byakko headed off into the mist. Feeling slightly perturbed, Lan slowly shuffled after him. After walking for another few minutes Lan’s breath was once again ragged. 

“Grandpa” he wheezed, his hands on his knees “I…need to rest.”

“Hmmm” Byakko said, turning around “I guess I was right about your aura.”

“What is it?” Lan inquired

“You’re aura’s all messed up for some reason, there’s not as much as there was before, so you’re getting tired more easily.” Said Byakko

“In other words?” Lan said, an eyebrow raised.

“Well, think of the amount of aura you can have at one time as a container” responded Byakko “and when that container isn’t full you can’t function at your best. Now imagine recovering aura as a tube plugged into the container that slowly fills it up again. Right now your “tube” is much smaller than it used to be even though your container is the same size. Right now it’s like trying to fill a city water reserve with a garden hose. Gonna be a while before your back at full strength. Well just rest for now, you’ll need your strength.”

Nodding, Lan sat down gratefully on the ground and slowly began to catch his breath. Sitting down next to him, Byakko reached inside his gi and pulled out a piece of deer jerky.

“Here, you better eat something if you want to recover faster.”

Gratefully accepting it, Lan devoured the jerky and after a few more minutes he was ready to go again.

“Come on” Byakko said, “We’re almost there.”

The morning mist was beginning to clear now as the sun began to rise higher. Lan was beginning to make out faint shapes in the distance. There were many of them, arranged in dozens of rows and columns. They were all rectangular in shape and had mantles draped across their tops, in fact they look very much like…

Lan stopped in his tracks as realization struck him. Spreading out before him was a sea of coffins, each draped with a cloth that had its dweller’s name written on it. Earlier that morning, before Lan had woken up, Byakko had went around and collected all of the corpses of the villagers. Being in their later years, each of the villagers had made post mortem preparations, so all of them already had their coffins prepared. Byakko had matched the face, and sometimes scent when the face was unrecognizable, to the respective coffin for each of the villagers and had just finished a few minutes before meeting Lan.

Lan tried to say something, but all that came out of his mouth was a jumbled gargling sound. He dropped to his knees, his eyes as large as plates and just stayed there, unable to comprehend what was before him. He had seen all this last night, understood what had happened, but at the time some parts of his brain had been numbed so that he could survive through that desperate situation, but now the horrors crashed into his childish thought patterns, which tried desperately to fight against the reality.

Byakko sighed and sat down next to him.

“There’s 65 coffins there boy, same as the village population, not counting us of course. I’m sorry; there weren’t any other survivors besides us. But this is reality Lan, the sooner you accept it the sooner you’ll be able to move on.”

Byakko’s words fell on empty ears. Lan slowly rose to his feet and walked towards the rows of coffins. He passed each coffin one by one, and on each he read a familiar name. Every single one was someone he had spent many days living with and learning from, someone that he had shared happy times with. He walked through the coffins for half an hour, and finally came to stop in front of three that had been set apart from the rest. On them read: Hiroshi Nakagami, Anna Waters, and Rowan Highwind. 

“Out of everyone in the village they were my best friends” Byakko said sighing, “ended up separating them out of habit.”

“Hey Grandpa” Lan said, starting to chuckle “Don’t you think this is too far for a joke?”

He then began to laugh even harder and collapsed onto all fours. Tears of hilarity, confusion, and sorrow were dripping down his face. He had seen all the corpses just last night, even closed the eyes of Hiroshi and Anna. But his young mind had refused to believe it, treating everything that he had seen as just a dream. 

“In denial” Byakko whispered to himself, sighing “guess we got to do this the hard way.”

Getting up he walked over to Lan and grabbed the cloth at the back of his neck. Yanking him up, Byakko brought him to eye level. 

“THEIR DEAD YOU LITTLE IDIOT!” Byakko screamed at the top of his lungs “IS IT THAT HARD TO UNDERSTAND!?”

Lan blithered and shivered and then stared down at his grandfather.

Gasping in exasperation, Byakko grabbed the lid of Rowan’s coffin and whipped off the lid. He then raised Lan into the air and slammed the young boy onto the bloody corpse. Lan squealed in fright and tried to push away, but Byakko’s grip was too strong. The force of Byakko’s thrust squirted out some cold blood which splashed onto Lan’s face. Feeling the cold liquid hit him, Lan looked up and stared at the empty stump that was Rowan’s neck. On top of it was a jar that contained what was left of the head. 

“JUST LOOK YOU LITTLE SHIT! THIS IS REALITY, EVERYONE’S DEAD. YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT LAST NIGHT!”

Memories came roaring back to Lan, he remembered how he had found Rowan last night and the fear and sorrow that had coursed through them back them. As reality finally set in, Lan stopped struggling and his body stiffened. Noticing an effect, Byakko pulled Lan out of the coffin. 

Lan’s eyes had glazed over and he had gone limp. Lifting him up and looking his in the eyes, Byakko grunted and then set the boy down. 

“I’ll be back in a little while.” said Byakko while sliding the lids back onto the coffins “Get your head straight before I get back.”

With that Byakko turned around and headed back to the village, leaving Lan sitting on the ground and leaning against the coffin, blood on his face and his head cocked to one side. 

A whirlwind of thoughts and emotions were now fighting in his mind for control, but none of them could gain a good foothold in his consciousness. But slowly and surely, he began to piece things together. After half an hour his mind finally stabilized and as the light returned to his eyes, he felt that he was looking at a brand new world, a world that wasn’t as wonderful as he had previously thought; it was a world of fading light and broken dreams. 

Curling up into a ball, Lan began to cry again and would continue to do so for another hour, until all of his tears finally dried up.  
.  
.  
.  
Two hours later Byakko, his arms filled with food he had pilfered from the village, returned to find Lan asleep next to Hiroshi’s coffin. It was late morning now. 

“Hey” Byakko barked, giving Lan a quick kick and rousing the boy from his troubled sleep. “It’s time to eat.”

Lan sat up and then looked up at Byakko with blank eyes.

“You thinking straight now?” Byakko asked

“Almost everyone I know is dead, I might have been the cause of this and my life has lost all meaning” Lan replied flatly.

“That’s a start.” Byakko said, shrugging his shoulders and sitting down. 

He then pulled out a meat pie out of the sustenance in his arms and handed it to Lan. Lan stared at it for a few moments and then accepted it, balancing with his elbows. Smiling, Byakko then began to shove the vast majority of the rest of the food into his gaping maw, his cheeks swelling up like a chipmunk as he chewed. After he had finished every bite he turned his head and noticed that Lan still hadn’t eaten anything. 

“Alright” Byakko said, flinging his arm across Lan’s shoulder, “I know when I guy has got something to spill. Let er rip, I’m all ears.”

Lan turned his gaze towards his grandfather and stared at him for a few moments. He then took a deep breath.

“Can’t hide anything from you can I?”

“Nope”

Lan set the pie on the ground and turned to Byakko. He then told him about what had transpired last night, about the old man from the order, how he had been born, and that the Grimm had come to this village seeking him. 

“So basically” Lan said, finishing his story “All of this is my fault…Anna, Hiroshi, Rowan, Everybody. They all died because of me.”

Byakko stared at him, a frown evident on his scarred face. He then lifted his arm and gave Lan a light (at least by his standards) whack on the head. 

“That’s bullshit and you know it” Byakko said “If anything, I’m the one to blame for leaving when you all needed me. The Grimm are targeting all of mankind, and you’re upset because one of them decided to specifically target your ass? The Grimm are 100% pure evil, they would probably have come here eventually even if you didn’t exist.”

“That’s not true it was probably drawn here by--” Lan retorted

“Who cares if you drew it here? It’s good I killed it when I did actually, there’s no way regular hunters could have taken it.” Byakko said, folding his arms “You think it would be fine if it killed off people you never met? If it wasn’t drawn here it would have gone off and killed hundreds, maybe even thousands of people somewhere else and left all of their friends and relatives suffering. It’s like a natural disaster, sucks when it happened to you, but you got to stop whining as soon as you can and do damage control before things get worse!”

Lan was growing angry now, the hot seething emotions welling up inside of him. But all of a sudden it died down. It just wasn’t in Lan’s nature to get angry. Besides, as rough as Byakko’s argument was, it was actually pretty sound.

All of a sudden he found the meat pie inches away from his face.

“Hurry up and eat already, you’ll feel better afterwards.” Byakko said. “Or” he said twisting his face into a demented smile “do you need your old grandpa to help pre-chew it for you?”

This comment brought a slight smile to Lan’s face.

“He always tries to slip in a joke no matter what huh?” Lan thought to himself.

He then turned his attention downwards at the flaky confection in his lap, bent his head towards it, and began to eat. 

“That’s it” said Byakko, grinning “no more gloom and doom. You finished all your crying this morning, now’s the time to pick yourself up! Now’s the time to rise from the ashes! Now’s the time to—”

“I’m trying to eat here grandpa” Lan said through a mouthful of steak, potatoes, and carrots “could you quiet down?”

“Oh uh…sorry.”

They then sat in silence for a few more minutes until Lan finished his pie. Byakko then stood up and picked Lan up off the ground and into his arms. 

“Let’s continue this chat somewhere a little more comfortable.”

The two of them then went back into the village, heading towards the center. Amazingly, Byakko’s home had been able to withstand all the chaos that had occurred last night. Byakko had built it from tough, fireproof materials, so even though it looked rickety, it was as strong as a fortified military base. The previous night many of the villagers had tried to use it as a defense base, but some Grimm had managed to get in through the windows, so they had to abandon the position. 

Byakko pushed the bent up front door open, and then carried Lan up the stairs to his room. He then set Lan down on the bed, after he had cleaned up the room of course, and took a seat nearby. Lan turned his head to look at Byakko, and then in a quiet voice said.

“What are we going to do now?”

“Whelp” said Byakko, scratching his chin “We’ve got to take care of matters in the village first, but after that it’s up to you. What do you want to do?”

“I…don’t know” responded Lan, hesitantly. “I only just started thinking straight.”

“Well take your time, we ain’t going anywhere until we bury everyone and else. Oh! And you also need to recover, especially that jigsaw puzzle of an arm I managed to fit back together.”

Getting up, Byakko headed for the door. 

“I’m going to go find some ice dust crystals. We need something to prevent everyone from decomposing before we finish the funeral arrangements. While I’m gone, think about what you want to do.”

After Byakko left, Lan sat in silence for a few minutes before beginning to think. But no matter what he tried, his mind kept returning to guilt over what had happened. Despite what Byakko had told him he still believed that all this had been because of him. He kept asking himself:

“What if I had been faster? What if I had been stronger? What if I had never came here in the first place? Then at least they all would have been able to live their lives in peace.”

As these thoughts filled his mind, tears of frustration rolled down his young face. Also, a deep hatred for the Grimm began to boil up from within him. 

“Those stupid Grimm. They just take away everyone’s precious people. The order of dawn was right in wanting to exterminate them.”

These thoughts of anger and frustration eventually boiled within him for a time, but broke as he began to remember all the good times he had had in the village. He remembered cooking with Anna, making contraptions with Rowan, writing calligraphy with Hiroshi, planting with Greb, playing the piano with Edgar, and a bunch of other things he had learned from people. He also began to regret dropping all of the classes that he thought wouldn’t be useful. 

“At least it would have made them happy if I had learned it” Thought Lan. 

His energy was slowly being depleted by the emotional storm raging within him and his body’s meager condition until finally, without him realizing it, he once again fell asleep.  
.  
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Lan felt a tickling sensation on his face as his consciousness began to rouse. He groaned, and this was accompanied by a whooshing sound. He opened his eyes, and sitting next to him was Byakko, holding a marker and a pad of paper. 

“It’s good you got some sleep” Byakko said smiling “Sleep is the key to good health and efficiency!”

Lan stared at the marker and then at the notepad.

“You drew on my face didn’t you?”

“That obvious?”

“I’ve never seen you write.”

Shrugging, Byakko handed Lan a towel and a mirror. Lan ignored the mirror and proceeded to wipe his whole face. After he was finished he looked out the window and saw that the sun was beginning to start its decent. 

“So have you decided on what you want to do yet?” Byakko said, leaning forward.

Lan opened his mouth, closed it, and then sighed.

“I don’t know grandpa, I really don’t know. I know all of this isn’t my fault but I still led the Grimm here!” Lan was beginning to talk with increasing speed, hyperventilating as he continued “The villagers could have lived a peaceful happy life if I hadn’t been here. They’ve lived here fine for years before I came. I know the Grimm would have just attacked somewhere else and it’s sad that those people would have died, but still everyone here would still be alive if I just didn’t—”

Byakko lashed out with his hand, grabbed Lan, lifted him up to his face, and let loose a monstrous belch. The force and stink released from the confines of his grandfather’s stomach stunned Lan.

“Calmed down?” Byakko asked.

Lan just hung limply, his right eye twitching. Taking that as a “yes” Byakko set him back down.

“Now listen here, there isn’t anyone in the village who would have wished you never came. Even if you did kill them” Byakko paused at this, noticing Lan’s downcast expression “Scratch that” he said waving his hand. “What I meant to say is that before you came here their lives weren’t worth anything to them. They were just whiling away the days and waiting for their lives to come to an end. I saw it every day, the empty void that was in the back of their eyes. But when you came, all of a sudden the fire came back to their eyes.” 

Lan shook his head to clear it and then looked up again at Byakko with renewed interest. 

“You know the thing with old farts is, not that I’m saying I’m one, is that they feel the most fulfilled when they’re nurturing the next generation. They’ve had their adventures, made their friends, and achieved their goals. At that point in time they don’t give a damn about what’s going to happen in their lives. ” he said, shaking his head “No, they begin to dream about the next generation being able to do what they were never able to, and that’s you boy, the one who will make all their dreams come true!”

Byakko then seized Lan by the shoulders and raised him into the air. 

“You’ll see sights they’ve never seen, meet tons of amazing people, and have experiences they only dreamed of! And once your time is over and you cross the great divide, you’ll be able to sit across the table from them and tell them your stories with pride. That’s what you got to focus on now! So get a hold of yourself before I launch a breath of life at you from the other end!”

Lan felt his despair and sorrow were slowly being burned away by excitement, it was as if warm hands were pressing on his back and removing the guilt that was chaining him down. Warmth began to spread throughout his heart now and he began to smile.

“It seems you get it now” said Byakko, a huge smile spreading across his face “And I guess you also feel their presence!”

“Whose?” Lan asked

“Do you really need to ask boy? Just close your eyes and feel it, you’ll understand immediately.”

Following his grandpa’s instructions, Lan closed his eyes. He sensed nothing at first but then he began to feel a few things. He smelled spices, engine oil, tea leaves, freshly tilled dirt, the smell of old sheet music, as well as a number of other things. He felt warm hands on his back, filling his heart with peace and calm. He could hear innumerable voices, all telling him the same thing: “Don’t give up.” 

When he opened his eyes again these feelings disappeared, but their effect remained. Tears began to trickle down his face as he realized who they were.

“The spirits of those you care about will always be with you, even if they exist in a different plane” said Byakko, setting the boy back down on the bed. “Now I want you to think about what you want to do next. Sure we got a few things to take care of here, but after that we gotta move on. Hmmm… I know! Let’s go on a trip, see the world just like the heroes in your story books and” he then paused, realizing his mistake “Oops. You’re supposed to decide your next step. Well don’t let me bother ya.” 

Byakko got up and turned towards the door. 

“Think about what you want to do next and get some more sleep” he said “Sleep is the best medicine after all. I’ll be digging up a grave for everybody, come check it out when you feel better.”

He then walked out the door and left Lan alone with his thoughts. 

Lan dug into his blankets a little more and pulled up the blanket with his teeth. 

“So, I guess I think of what to do now” he thought “I liked grandpa’s travel ideas. I think that could be fun. But we also got to honor everyone in the village properly.”

Thoughts swirled through his mind and slowly coalesced into a uniform plan. He then began to iron out some of the details little by little. Soon he had pieced everything together; he then crawled out of bed and headed outside towards the library.  
.  
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Byakko was bent over digging in an enormous hole. The hole was located on the forest side of the village. It was square shaped, measuring 50 feet by 50 feet and was 20 feet deep. Byakko planned to place all the coffins in the hole in a mass grave style, he didn’t know any better way. With his immense strength digging up this deep had only taken him less than 10 minutes, and he was almost done. 

With a heave, he launched a torrent of dirt into the air, which landed like a waterfall on a massive pile near the hole. Byakko then sniffed the air, stopped and smiled.

“Up so soon my little friend?”

“Yeah” Lan said, looking down at him from the edge of the hole“Is this where you’re going to be burying everyone?”

“Yep” said Byakko, wiping his hands on his dirty shirt. 

Lan harrumphed, and then kicked a cylindrical tube that was at his feet at Byakko. Byakko caught it in midair, examined it and popped it open. Inside were some blueprints. Byakko unrolled it and glanced at it. 

“What’s this?” he asked

“It was in the library.” Responded Lan, “Its blueprints for a mausoleum, Hiroshi, Edgar, and some other people drew it up a few years ago, but scrapped the idea when they realized how much effort it would take to make it. But I think everyone deserves to be buried somewhere nice.”

“Uh huh” said Byakko glancing at it. “You sure we’ll be able to make this?”

“I’m not very confident in my abilities to draw up blueprints but I can sure as heck read them!” responded Lan. “There’s a lot of delicate work involved, and that’s gonna have to be reserved until my arms heal up.”

Byakko smiled as he gazed up at Lan’s now brighter expressions “Good to see you back in high spirits!”

“Yeah” said Lan, smiling back “as a wise man once said, ‘Even though those you cared for are gone from this plane of existence, their spirits will always be with you, so you better not show them a depressed face all the time’”

“That’s my boy.” said Byakko.

He then jumped out of the pit and landed beside Lan.

“So what’s our first order of business?”

“Well” said Lan, taking the blueprints from Byakko and rolling them open. “We first need to collect the materials starting with huge pieces of Granite; I saw in a map of this area that there’s a granite deposit nearby you can probably get that there; Marble; also can be found at a deposit nearby; and lots of timber to help build the support structures. Think you can get all that grandpa?”

Lan turned his head to check with the old man, but instead what he found was a sign hammered into the ground that said “Whent to go get Materialz”.

Lan shook his head a smiled at Byakko’s poor writing. He then looked into the sky. It would take some time to recover and then finish building the mausoleum. He would have plenty of time to think about what he wanted to do from now on. He then turned towards the village and went to see if he could find any of the villager’s wills, they had to be buried the way they wanted to after all.  
.  
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3 months later

Lan stood in front of the recently finished mausoleum. 

It had been difficult completing it. Byakko did well in gathering the materials and cutting them to about the right sizes, but often he would get too hyperactive and begin breaking things. There was also the problem with the delicate work. Lan didn’t trust Byakko to do that kind of thing (and frankly Byakko didn’t trust himself with it either). So they had to wait till Lan’s arms healed, thankfully Byakko was able to speed up the process by pumping restorative aura into Lan. As a result it only took Lan 1 month to completely heal, after which he began the long and grueling process of carving the stones into the correct shapes and with the right decorations, luckily he had learned a little bit of stone masoning from Rowan, so he wasn’t too bad. He screwed up many times though, which led to a longer process. 

After they had made all the separate pieces and made sure they fit together, Byakko put the whole place together (albeit he did break many in the process, after which the two needed to reconstruct them all over again). 

“Thank god for Rowan’s Engineering lessons” Lan thought as he thought of the events of the past 3 months.

The completed mausoleum wasn’t anything amazing, but given that there were only two people working on it, the craftsmanship was marvelous. It was a large stone structure that towered before him and had decent carvings all around it. The front doors were composed of giant granite slabs with water-resistant copper handles sticking out of them. They led down into a crypt lined with the coffins of the villagers. They had also designed the resting places the way the each villager wanted it to be and laid them to rest with the items designated in their wills.

A few hours ago they had moved all the coffins in and they had just recently finished the funeral ceremonies and gone through all the wills. Lan had wanted to invite Sammy, but he had no idea where he could have been, so they had to hold the ceremonies without him. Some of the members of the White Fang were a bit elusive after all. Lan had instead carved a note into one of the outer walls of the mausoleum, making sure to sure shield that area from wind and rain with other protective structures. If Sammy ever did come back, he would know what happened here.

The villagers had left Lan almost everything that they had. From cash and furniture to words of wisdom and paraphernalia, they had given him everything. 

“If only we could have finished our lessons” Lan thought as he gazed at the building. 

All of a sudden there was a loud slamming noise. The mausoleum shook all the way to hits foundations. Looking up, Lan saw Byakko standing at the top of the mausoleum.

“Seems pretty sturdy” Byakko said, leaping off the roof and onto the ground beside Lan.

“Grandpa!” Lan said, appalled “you could have collapsed the whole building!”

“If it couldn’t handle that, no way it could handle the elements!” he responded

“Elements? Wha—YOU ARE EASILY A WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION, THERE’S NOW WAY THE MAUSOLEUM WILL EVER HAVE TO GO THROUGH SOMETHING LIKE THAT!” shouted Lan.

“You never know.” said Byakko, playfully.

He then wrapped his thick arm around Lan’s neck and pulled him close.

“But we’re finally done boy” he said, releasing him at the same time.

Lan’s anger simmered down as the jovial atmosphere disappeared and was replaced by one of solemn silence and accomplishment, and then he once again looked at the mausoleum.

“Yes” he said, a tear trickling down the right said of his face “We are.”

The two of them stood there for a while, side by side. They both realized that they now had to move on with their lives now. They had done all they could to honor the memories of their friends: built them a tomb with their own hands, carried out the last wishes written in their wills (there weren’t many), and sent them off with eulogies. 

It was now time for Lan and Byakko to move on. Byakko was a battle-hardened veteran, he was used to situations like these, after all he’d already seen off hundreds of his closest friends. Lan however, was not ready. For these past three months he had just went with the flow, keeping himself busy to avoid thinking about the bad times anymore. But now that the work was done he felt an emptiness spreading inside of him. Byakko sensed it too, and responded to it with a 

WHACK!

Byakko slapped Lan across the back of the head and then seized the boy and put him into the deadly “Pits of death” headlock.

“Stop moping, we’re supposed to be done with that already!”

Lan gurgled in response as he was already overwhelmed by the stench of his grandfather’s unwashed armpits, and it may disgust you to know that Byakko hadn’t bathed once in the past 3 months. 

Byakko released his grip and Lan fell to the ground. Lan wheezed for breath and then ran towards the nearest waste bin where he deposited the contents of his stomach.

“Have you decided what you want to do yet boy?”

“Huh?” said Lan as he pulled his head out of the now steaming refuse bin.

“I asked what you want to do with your life!”

Lan wiped the bile on the side of his mouth, took a deep breath and walked back over to Byakko, his composure reestablished, and stared him straight in the eyes. Byakko could see determination and conviction rising up within the boy.

“I want to kill Grimm.” He said calmly “I want to make sure nothing like this happens to anyone else. Not if I can help it.”

The two stared at each other, and then Byakko nodded.

“Good answer boy, but that means from now on we got to up the difficulty of our training. In fact I’ll be upping it to a level that everyone else said in I quote was “too inhumane and sadist to even be called training anymore”.”

“I expect it” said Lan, punching the palm of his hand. 

Byakko smiled and then folded his arms.

“That being said, we haven’t trained at all these past three months have we.” He said with a smile “But, training while traveling is always a good…Well then, I guess we’d better get ready to leave!”

“What?” said Lan confused “I don’t—”

“Now listen here!” Byakko said, in a forceful voice “After many weeks of careful and meticulous deliberation. I have decided that you need to see the rest of the world!”

“Wait I—”

“We’ve got to leave this place behind boy. All it is now is a memorial. A place for us to come back to every once in a while and pay respects to everyone! You got to get out there and see how everything rolls. It won’t do you any good to stay in this backwater place.” 

“But—”, said Lan

“Unless that butt came from an animal and was roasted over a fire I don’t want to hear about it.” interrupted Byakko.“We’ll be leaving in a couple days. I’m going to leave you to take care of your own belongings. I’m going to be going around the village, gathering up anything we might uh” Byakko placed his chin between his thumb and forefinger “Need during the trip.”

The way that Byakko said this made Lan feel slightly uncomfortable, but before he could ask any questions Byakko dashed into the town, leaving a faint afterimages behind. 

Lan stood there feeling baffled, much like he did after most conversations with his grandpa. He then sighed. He knew there would be no way to change his grandpa’s mind. 

He didn’t feel like packing, not right now. He would plan that out later tonight. He decided instead to take a walk through the village, taking in every scene and imprinting them in a special place in his heart. So he walked, wandering through the town shrouded in pre-dawn mist where memories of the past danced through the air and visions of those long gone floated through the air like falling snow.  
.  
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3 days later  
It was now the morning of their departure, Byakko stood in front of their house in the cool and foggy morning air, tapping his feet in annoyance. It had been four hours since their designated meeting time. 

“If that boy makes me wait any longer, I swear I will tan his hide” Byakko thought.

After a few more minutes he caught Lan’s scent on the air. The boy was finally coming, and he could see his shape through the mist.

“About time” Byakko yelled “I was waiting for—”

He then noticed a giant shape loom out of the mist behind the boy. Fearing it was a hostile; Byakko ran forward and leapt at the shadow. He slammed into it and heard Lan yelp. Then, with a crash, he and the shape landed on the ground. It was then that Byakko realized that what he tackled was not a flesh and blood creature, but a back made out of tough canvass, and carrying that bag was Lan who was now groaning on the ground.

“Whoops” said Byakko, helping Lan back to his feet “sorry about that. But what’s with that big ass backpack?”

Lan brushed himself off and then hoisted the enormous pack, which was around 10 times larger than he was, back onto his back.

“It’s to carry everything I need.” responded Lan 

Byakko raised an eyebrow and then patted the pack. 

“Books, tools, instruments, and bunches of other stuff.” He said with a harrumph. 

“Yes” said Lan, “The wills recommended them.”

“Wills?” said Byakko, confused.

“Didn’t you read them? Everyone told me in their wills to keep on learning what I was being taught and I plan to do so. You yourself said that they entrusted me with their hopes and dreams. So, I’m going to be carrying the knowledge I need to do so with me all the time!”

Lan then puffed up his cheeks in defiance to any objections Byakko may bring up. But instead the old man just smiled.

“Good boy” Byakko said smiling. He then turned back towards the house. “Well, I won’t be outdone by my own brat!”

Byakko brushed aside some bushes which revealed to metal harnesses attached to the side of the house. Byakko grabbed one and then pulled on it hard. 

With an earth-shattering crack, the house was ripped out of its foundation. Pieces of rock and blasted into the air, following the house. Lan watched, his agape, as Byakko stuck his arms into the harnesses and began carrying the home as if it were a backpack.

“How the—whuh?” Stammered Lan.

“Surprised you huh?” said Byakko smiling “I didn’t really plan on brining this, but you forced my hand.”

Lan stood there for a few moments and then sighed and scratched his head. 

“I guess you’ve always been breaking the molds of common sense” said Lan, smiling. “and these will help train our back strength!”

“Yeah!” shouted Byakko “Now let’s go.”

“I hope everything will be okay while we’re gone” Lan said, staring at the structures around him. 

“Don’t worry” said Byakko “I’ve already gotten that taken care of!”

He then brought his fingers to his lips and let out a loud whistle. A few moments later, dozens of howls responded. Within seconds, they were completely surrounded by the wolf pack.

“These guys will take care of this place.” Said Byakko, waving his arm at them “Won’t you?” 

The wolves barked in response. They then spread out and opened a path that led to the village’s exit. They stood at attention, as if they were soldiers seeing their heroes off. All of them felt sad that their friends were leaving and a whimper could be heard here and there. But they knew that making a fuss about it would only make it harder.

“Thanks guys” said Lan, a tear in his left eye.

Shouldering his pack Lan set his eyes on the distant horizon and marched forward.  
.  
.  
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Ignis watched as Lan and Byakko began to walk away. He gave a low whimper as he saw his best friend leaving.

“Why do you have to go Lan?” he whimpered, this was of course in wolf language and as a result, Lan was not able to understand it.

“He must” said someone behind him.

Ignis turned back and saw Ernest looking down at him.

“Staying here would only cause the boy’s capabilities to stagnate. I will not stand for the one who defeated me becoming a sniveling worm.”

“I know” said Ignis “I just wish we could have stayed together.”

Ernest was silent for a moment but quickly gave response.

“Then why don’t you go with them young pup.”

Ignis turned to face his leader, completely surprised.

“But what about loyalty to the pack?”

“Those two are members of the pack young one. Journeying with them will not sully your honor.”

“But what about defending everyone else?” blurted Ignis, “Also, there’s hunting, scouting, and a whole bunch of other ta—”

“You really think a pup of your ability would be able to do any of those things well? No, in fact you could gain valuable experience while journeying with them.”

Ignis looked at the pack around him and then at Lan’s shrinking form. He shuffled nervously, unable to make up his mind.

Ernest growled.

“Unable to even make a choice of this caliber you stupid pup? Fine then I will decide for you.”

He then raised his head and yowled to the rest of the pack.

“Ignis is now banished from our tribe. He will travel with our two-legged companions and will only be allowed to return after he has proven himself to be a true warrior!”

Ignis whipped around, alarmed. All the other wolves had begun to growl at him now. He backed away nervously and then turned to look at Ernest.

“Go” Ernest said, his imposing figure frightening the young wolf “There is no place for you here until you gain the strength to take it.”

Ignis stared at the growling mass surrounding him. He then whimpered and ran off in the direction of Lan.  
.  
.  
.  
“Why are they growling back there?” asked Lan

“I don’t know” responded Byakko “Maybe one of the members broke a rule or something.

The two of them were now just passed the village gateway. Lan turned around and stared up at the sign. “Welcome to Cunctantem Cinere”. 

“I won’t be seeing this place for a long time.” Lan thought

He sighed, and began to turn around, but then out of the corner of his eye, he saw a red shape darting towards him. Realizing who it was, Lan gave a small smile and leaned down. Within a few seconds Ignis had reached their position and dove into Lan’s arms. The little wolf smothered Lan’s face in saliva and then buried his head between Lan’s thighs.

“Coming to see us off again” Lan said, patting the small canine form “Thanks”

Ignis then pulled himself out of Lan’s lap and ran ahead, right past Byakko.

Confused, Lan got up and stared at the little red form darting away. 

“Aww,” said Byakko “I think he wants to come with us.”

“Really?” said Lan, whipping his head to stare in his grandpa’s direction. His eyes were sparkling with joy.

“Well let’s ask him.” Said Byakko.

The old man then dashed over, picked up the little wolf, and brought him up to his face. The little wolf yipped and licked Byakko’s face. Byakko then made some barking and growling sounds, and Ignis responded in turn. After a few minutes of this exchange Byakko turned back to look at Lan.

“Yep, he wants to come.”

“Oh” Lan cried, feeling deeply touched. “And you’ll let him come?”

“Yep. But!” Said Byakko, turning to stare Ignis in the eyes“That means I’ll be training you as well.”

The mischievous spark in Byakko’s eyes unnerved the little wolf who whimpered. 

“Sorry no take backs” 

Byakko then set Ignis back on the ground and turned to Lan.

“I guess this means the gang’s all here!” Shouted Byakko. “Now come on we got a long way to go, the day ain’t getting any longer!”

“So we’ll also be doing training on the road right?” asked Lan.

“Yep” said Byakko, “Tomorrow I’ll asses your physical and spiritual status, been a while since I’ve done that haven’t I. But for today We walk! Come on boys, Onward.”

Finally the three of them set off. And what a most peculiar sight they were. A small wolf pup, A young boy carrying a pack 10 times his size, and an old man with a house on his back.   
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The powerful white being had finally left. It had waited three months, and now it was finally time. The broken crystals in the ground vibrated and released a black miasma. This black mist rose from the ground where the crystals had been crushed. There were two clouds, one from where Byakko had dropped the crystals and one in the forest where Lan had felled the lesser Grimm. 

The two clouds flew into the air and then coalesced into one cumulous form. It then began to drift away, carried away by a strange force. For days it traveled over the sea and many different lands, until finally it reached its destination. Far Far away in some godforsaken land, the black mist arrived at what appeared to be a giant black puzzle box, wrapped with giant chains that were bolted to the ground around it, surrounding it were ancient runes. Down at the very bottom of the box was a small hole. The gas floated there and was sucked in, after which the air began to fill with the slow but loud sound of “clicks”. Whatever mechanism was binding this structure was finally beginning to loosen after all the thousands of years it had functioned. At the speed it was going at, it would take many years before the shackles were released. But what lived inside sensed that its time was coming. Two red eyes opened in the darkness, waiting for the day it would be free.


	13. Chapter 13

Ch 13 First Love

“Faster!” yelled Byakko.

Lan grunted in acknowledgement and doubled his efforts.

“Faster!” yelled Byakko once again. 

The two of them were currently running along a dirt road, with a large grass plain stretching out towards their left and a sheer cliff with the ocean down below to their right. Lan was struggling to keep up with Byakko, who was going at a fraction of his normal speed to give Lan a chance. Lan’s back ached from carrying the large backpack, it was really a good thing that he was able to cushion the impact the heavy load was having on his bones and joints with aura. The items in his pack clanked and banged with every step he took, he was afraid that something might end up breaking. How Byakko was able to run so fast without damaging the house on his back, Lan had no idea.

“What’s wrong Lan” called Byakko from far ahead “Do you need…a break?”

Byakko emphasized the last words, a malevolent smile evident on his face as he turned back to look at Lan.

“No!” shouted Lan, alarmed. “I am still rearing to go!”

Lan knew what would happen if he needed a break, and he was already in enough pain from the last 5 times. 

“Alright” said Byakko, “You have 30 seconds to catch up with me then and if you can’t do it or you stop we’ll take that break!”

Lan gasped in exhaustion and was seriously considering throwing away his pack so he could catch up. Suddenly, Byakko stopped at the top of a small hill. Relieved, Lan quickly caught up with him and then stopped, sweat dribbling down his face.

“So why’d we sto—“

Wham.

Pain exploded in Lan’s nether regions at that very moment, and he collapsed to the ground gripping his groin and whimpering in pain.

“You stopped” said Byakko “and that mean we take a break, and a break means more Pain Resistance Training! We’ll build up your resistance to the man’s common weakness yet!”

After trying so hard to avoid it, the kick in the groin had still come to pass. Both physical pain (mostly) and frustration filled Lan, but he knew complaining would simply lead to something far more painful. 

“Ignis!” called Byakko. “Lan needs a friend right now!”

There was a bang and a crash inside the house on Byakko’s back, and a few seconds later Ignis rocketed out the door, leapt onto the ground, ran over to Lan, and began trying to comfort him.

The three of them had been on the road for a week, and during that time Byakko had discovered that Lan’s physical abilities and aura capabilities were much weaker than they had been previously. This was due to the loss of the spiritual being’s power. Bur believing it to be attributed to the injuries that Lan had received from the battle with the Grimm, Byakko hadn’t thought much about it but instead increased the difficulty of Lan’s training to make up for lost time. Ignis had also joined in, and was doing well (but then again his whimpering never stopped during his training time). Also, since Lan left the village he had begun keeping a journal, as suggested to him in Hiroshi’s will. Over the week he had mostly been filling it with his memories of his previous life in the village (since every day on the road was mostly the same: training, studying, reading, practicing, and traveling). The last few days had been the most difficult for him since during that time he recounted the Grimm’s attack; he had just finished the last entry for it the day before. On a side note, he had also been preparing all the meals (Byakko’s cooking poisons all except himself) and with Byakko’s appetite, that was no easy task.

After a bit, the pain in his nether regions subsided and Lan was lift his head up slightly. The two of them looked down at a village, surrounded by a high stone wall. The edge of a forest was located on its left side and the ocean on its right.

“Oh, Finally” said Lan, slowly getting to his feet and pulling off his backpack for a moment, “a place to stop and rest.”

‘Wham’, ‘Whimper’

Lan collapsed again into his previous position. Byakko then retracted his foot and turned to Lan’s curled up form and began to talk to him.

“Now before you go and do anything rash there are a few things I got to tell you. The way things work in different village and society as a whole is a lot different than how things were back in Cunctantem Cinere. We’ll actually be staying there a little while for you to get accustomed to it all. But I’ll give you a little advice right now. For one thing you won’t find old people at every corner and…”

“I know that” yelled Lan, slowly getting up, this time making sure to keep his distance from Byakko’s appendages. “I’ve already read about all of this and…”

“Reading about and experiencing something is two very different things boy.” Said Byakko. “and you have yet to experience that which is said to be the most dangerous thing in existence to the male sex!”

“Uh…what?” asked Lan

“I am talking about women boy” said Byakko “their very presence befuddles the minds of those not used to their company!”

“Hey wait” interrupted Lan “I’ve known plenty of women, and I’ve never had any problems, especially not with Anna.”

“That’s because they were grandmas” said Byakko, with a harrumph “they don’t have the same effect.”

“So you’re saying I should avoid women than?” asked Lan, raising his eyebrow.

“No,no,no.” said Byakko waiving his hand, as if to dispel the notion. “It’s just that you are so inexperienced that you’ll probably do something stupid and end up regretting it, especially if you meet a girl your own age. I suggest you just keep your distance for a little while and observe how things work. After a while you’ll be able to think straight around them and at that time feel free to talk with them as much as you want…and while you do” Byakko quietly mumbled something to the side, and judging by the grin that appeared on his face it couldn’t be anything good.

“Grandpa?” said Lan apprehensively “what are you planni—“

At that moment they heard a loud slamming noise from far below. They both looked down and saw that the village had shut its gates. They soon discovered why. A pack of beowolves had emerged out of the nearby woods and was now heading towards the village. Sentries at the top of the walks began firing their rifles at them.

“Ohhhhh!” said Byakko with a smile “this is our chance to make a good first impression on the villagers. Lan, Ignis!” he shouted “commence operation human bullet and dog bullet.”

Saluting, the two of them leapt inside the house and came back a few seconds later with iron cylinders. With a click, both of them opened and Lan and Ignis each went inside one of them and shut them. 

Byakko then grabbed both cylinders in his large hands, turned around, and took aim at the Grimm below. Then, in an instant, he threw both cylinders, which rocketed through the air. A few seconds later each cylinder crashed into the side of a beowolf, pulverizing their way through the beasts’ abdomens and slamming into the ground. Then, before the beowolves or the sentries on the wall could figure out what was going on, there was a click and the two cylinders opened. The nearest beowolf was then struck in the face with Lan’s fist and in the stomach with Ignis’s skull. The beowolf lost its balance and before it could recover from the staggering blows, the boy and the wolf dashed forward and dealt it fatal wounds. Lan, by driving an aura infused for finger into its eye, and Ignis biting down and tearing its throat. The beowolf collapsed onto the ground, spasming before its death. Taking advantage of the cover the dust from the cylinders’ impacts gave them, the two of them repeated this pattern for a few more beowolves. At present neither Lan nor Ignis were strong enough to take on the whole pack head on, so they slowly picked them off one by one. Once they sensed the dust was about the settle, they disengaged; leapt out of the fray; and took their positions with their backs to the wall. The two of them had taken out five of the twenty Beowolves that had originally been there. The rest growled once they finally could identify their silent assailants and quickly formed a circle surrounding the two. Luckily the sentries on the wall began firing again, so the beowolves were forced to scatter. Lan and Ignis then began to dart around the battlefield, attacking Grim here and there and, with the help of the gunfire, herded the beowolves into a tight circular formation, where many were peppered with bullets. It was then the two of them noticed something. Byakko had given the signal.

“Move!” shouted Lan.

He and Ignis leapt away from the group of Beowolves, just in time to avoid the giant boulder that crashed down on top of them. There was a cry of surprise from the sentries on top of the walls, followed a seconds later by a victory cry. Lan looked up smiling, and waved at the sentries who shouted out praises at the boy. But then, there was a large slamming sound behind Lan, effectively shutting up the sentries. Lan looked behind, and stared into Byakko’s smiling face. 

“Did you get my backpack grandpa?” asked Lan

“In the house” said Byakko, jabbing his thumb at the house on his back. At that moment Ignis jumped onto the deck and into the house so he could go sleep on the couch, which was one of his favorite past times.

With a creaking noise the front gate of the village opened and the sentries walked out to greet them. The sentries were all wearing full-body leather armor and had large rifles strapped to their back. A grizzled middle-aged man with brown hair, who was obviously a veteran due to the many scars he carried on his face, spoke first.

“That was impressive you two” he said with a smile “you two wouldn’t happen to be hunter and hunter-in-training would you?”

“Ex-Hunter” said Byakko, shoving a piece of jerky he had taken from inside his clothes into his mouth “and the boy isn’t.”

“I see” said the man “my name is Cassio, Cassio Moor and I am the commander of the village militia. My I ask for your names, as well as what you were seeking in our humble town?”

“The name’s Byakko!” said Byakko with a smile, “Byakko Muteki and this is my grandson Lan.”

“Why don’t I have a last name?” asked Lan

“Still thinking about that.” said Byakko.

“Grandson?” said Cassio, eyeing Byakko’s tiger features and Lan’s lack such things. “How would a Faunus such as yourself have a human grandchild?”

“He’s adopted” said Byakko, flatly.

“Ah” said Cassio.

“Why we came here” said Byakko, scratching his chin. “Is to stock up on supplies, and stay a little while so this little guy” Byakko clapped his hand across Lan’s shoulders, almost making the boy’s legs buckle. “can learn how things work in a real society. After all, he’s only been around old farts his whole life.”

“Uh huh” said Cassio.

“and while we’re here” said Byakko “I guess we’ll work with your militia!”

“Well your skills would be much appreciated” said Cassio, extending his hand “Welcome to Little Root village, feel free to stay as long as you like and…I see you already have your lodgings taken care of.” He said, staring at the house strapped to Byakko’s back. 

“Yep!” said Byakko, seizing Cassio’s hand in a firm, so much so that it made the man wince, handshake. “Glad to be here, could you show us around the place?”

“I don’t see why not.” Said Cassio with a smile “Come with me I’ll—“

“Daddy!” cried a little girl, who had slipped her way through the troops behind him. “Are you done with work?”

The little girl was around Lan’s age. She had long brown hair, bright green eyes, and a brilliant smile that lit up her old face. She wore a pair of rectangular-intelligent looking glasses, and had on a dark green dress and sandals. She was quite cute, and would definitely be quite the beauty when she grew older.

Lan’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped. Before he realized it, he was hiding behind Byakko’s leg and staring at her while fidgeting.

“Told you so.” Whispered Byakko, who was concealing a small grin. 

The little girl jumped forward and wrapped her arms around her father’s waist.

“Alayna!” said Cassio, a smile on his face. “What are you doing here? Does mama know where you are?”

“Yep!” said Alayna “she said I could come and see you papa!”

The two of them embraced for a few seconds, and then disengaged. Cassio placed Alayna back on the ground and then turned back to Lan and Byakko.

“I’d like to introduce you two to my daughter” said Cassio.

“Hello!” said Alayna, her left hand behind her back and her right hand raised in greeting.

“Nice to meet you little lady” said Byakko, who was obviously containing his laughter (Lan had turned bright red and hidden further behind Byakko’s leg after Alayna greeted them.) “Byakko’s my name and this” he said, grabbing Lan and plopping him down right in front Alayna. “is my grandson Lan!”

“Nice to meet you” said Alayna stepping forward and sticking out her hand, a big smile on her face.

“L-likewise” said Lan, fidgeting, Lan extended his shaking palm and grasped her hand. He was immediately struck by how soft her hand felt, and this only served to make him feel even more nervous.

“Are you okay?” asked Alayna, cocking her head to one side and staring at his face. “You’re getting really red and your hands getting really hot and sweaty.”

“Oh!” said Lan, pulling his hand away “I’m sorry I..um…well…uh”

“Okay that should be enough with the greetings!” shouted Byakko, stepping between the two and preventing Lan from further embarrassing himself. “About that tour Mr.Moor?”

“Of course” said Cassio, who was also chuckling slightly, as was the rest of the guard, “right this way.”

He took his daughter’s hand and then began to walk in the direction of the village center. Lan and Byakko followed. 

Now that his proximity to Alayna had decreased, Lan’s heart had started to settle down and his mind began to clear. It was then he noticed that Byakko had brought his head very near his own, and that Byakko had puffed up his cheeks like a puffer fish while staring at Lan intently. 

“Handled that like a pro you did.” Said Byakko in squeaky demented voice “Bet you’ll be handling the ladies well in no time!”

Lan blushed, grunted, and turned his head away. He was feeling extremely frustrated and ashamed, but at the same time slightly elated. He had never experienced something like that before, something that made him feel so warm. 

“Hey!” he heard someone shout from ahead. He looked up and saw Alayna waving at him to catch up with the rest of the group.

“Alright Lan” thought Lan, “you can do this.”

He then ran to catch up the rest of the group, but when Alayna grabbed his hand to help show him around he found that he really couldn’t handle it and spent the entire tour in what felt like a drunken stupor.  
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.  
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“This will be our home for a little while,” said Byakko, setting down their home on an empty patch of land inside the wall. Lan was standing a little ways away, keeping a giant fire ablaze that was roasting all manner of fowl, fish, and beast. 

They had finished the tour a few hours earlier, by which time Byakko had grown quite hungry. Cassio offered to treat them in nice tavern at the edge of town but Lan, knowing that Byakko could eat the man out of house and home, had politely refused and instead had invited them to have dinner with them. Lan and Byakko had gathered ingredients for dinner from the forest and ocean. Lan used his knowledge of animal behavior to catch a large number of different animals and Byakko had caught the seafood. Thankfully no one was around when he did so, because, as always, he did his fishing in his skinnies.

Together they easily amassed enough to feed the village twice over. Cassio and the rest of the guard were amazed. 

“Who are you people?”Cassio had asked. But they knew a good feast when they saw one, and were about to call of the rest of the village to join when Lan intervened.

“Grandpa eats…a lot” he said, awkwardly “Invite everyone in the village and there won’t be enough to eat, even with this amount. You can bring your families though!”

The guards looked incredulous, but after seeing Byakko’s strength, they were willing to believe it. So, they went home and gathered their families and then went to the tavern and bought back a couple barrels of ale and some apple cider for the children. 

Lan prepared all the food carefully, except for Byakko’s which he simply mass roasted (you have to cook a lot of food really fast in order to feed that guy). While Lan was cooking everything, Alayna and some other children were playing tag. 

“Hey, why isn’t the new guy playing?” asked a slightly portly boy, pointing at Lan.

“He’s cooking the food!” Alayna with a smile, she then turned towards Lan, who was placing the prepared meats next to the blaze to be roasted, and yelled “Everything fine Lan?” 

The moment Lan heard her voice he began to vibrate nervously once again. 

“Y-yeah” he called back, placing sliced meat onto searing hot rocks. “Everything’s going gre—“

It was then that, in his nervousness, that he dropped a fish which landed under his foot and caused him to slip. The meat and fish in his arms flew into the air and amazingly all of them landed on an empty place on the hot cooking rocks and began roasting, sadly so did both of his palms when he tried to balance himself. 

Lan cried out in pain at began flailing his arms and blowing on his palms. “Hot, hot!” he cried.

The other children began laughing, but Alayna ran to a nearby bucket of water that Lan had set aside in case the fire got out of control and brought it over to him. Lan gratefully stuck his hands into the cold solution and sighed in relief.

“Better?” said Alayna, her face lit up with brilliant smile.

“Yeah” said Lan, entranced “I am.”

From the other side of the area, Byakko smiled as he saw this. 

“Somebody’s in looove” he said quietly with a chuckle.

“Um…Lan?” said Alayna, looking nervous.

“Yes?” said Lan in a dreamy voice.

“Isn’t something burning?”

Lan’s eyes shot open, and he whipped his head in the direction of the cooking where some of it was beginning to burn. 

Gasping in alarm dashed forward and with a flurry of speed and skill, Lan whipped the meat that was starting to burn into the air. Each piece landed with a plop on one of several giant empty plates in the center of the groups that had. Many of the guardsmen clapped and cheered as they watched Lan dash here and there, faster than any normal boy his age would be capable of. Within a few minutes, all the food had been pulled out and had been piled onto several giant plates, each of which had a stack of food a 3 meters high. Laughing the guardsman and their families clapped once again and began to pull bits of meat and fish to munch on.

“Wow!” said Alayna, “That was fast!”

“T-thank you.” Said Lan.

At that moment there was a dinging sound from inside Lan’s home.

“Oh” said Lan turning towards it “wait just one moment.”

He dashed inside, and later emerged with oven mitts on and bearing several trays of deserts. He had baked them earlier using ingredients that he and Byakko had brought from their village, he hadn’t wanted the eggs, as well as a number of other ingredients, to spoil. He set one tray down near each giant plate, which was accompanied by gratitude from those surrounding them; he then removed the best brownie from one of them and timidly gave it to Alayna.

“Wow!” said Alayna, after taking a bite “It’s delicious! This is the best brownie I’ve ever had!”

“Why thank—“ Lan was cut off as Alayna embraced him in gratitude.

His heart shot into his throat, his body went rigid, and his face turned bright red. He remained like this even after she let go and ran to eat with her father Cassio, and her mother Bianca who had just arrived.

It took him a few minutes to begin to think clearly again, and by think clearly I mean actually be able to form a thought. The first thing that popped into his head was Alayna’s warm smile. Yes my friends, you all guessed it. Lan had fallen in love for the first time, and with the first girl he ever met at that. 

“I’ll be her knight in shining army” thought Lan dreamily and shakily, a smile splattered on his features, he then began to walk back towards his grandfather who was stupefying everyone around him with feats of gastronomy and alcohol tolerance. As for Ignis, he slept his way through dinner and was quite cross when he found out what he had missed.


	14. Chapter 14

Ch 14   
The next day, Lan woke up exuberant. He was able to finish preparing the morning meal, which included Byakko’s exorbitant portion, in half the time he usually would and even managed to keep a grin on his face as he finished that day’s training (which was sparring…so yeah he and Ignis got pretty battered.) Then after the swelling went down it was the middle of the day, so he went to see if he could play with Alayna and her friends. 

“You sure its love?” shouted Byakko, who had listened to Lan talk about how he felt last night. “I think you might just fall for any little girl who’s nice to ya!”

But Lan ignored him , hoisted his large bag onto his back, and continued out the door. This time Ignis was with him and was awake and was determined not to miss anything fun. The little wolf was also very excited by the new sights and smells that surrounded him, and wasn’t able to go a few feet without marking new territory, which usually ended up in a disgruntled townsperson chasing them. As he walked through the town, Lan surveyed the area (he had been too distracted by Alayna during the tour to have remembered anything). The town was a basic small village with wooden buildings and shingled roofs. There was everything you would expect in a town of that size, with taverns; inns; electronic stores; and a menagerie of other businesses. 

After a few minutes of walking around, Lan and Ignis found the rest of the children, who were playing in the middle of an empty lot situated between a bakery and the local bank. Lan looked around for Alayna while Ignis stood beside him, wagging his little tail excitedly. 

Lan quickly spotted her standing among a group of other little girls and was about to call out to her when someone shouted:

“PUPPY!”

The entire group of children whipped around and stared in Lan’s and Ignis’s direction, their eyes trained on the small dog.

Ignis cocked his head to one side and made a confused whine. 

“Puppy!” the rest of them cried. 

All of them dropped whatever it was they were doing and began to stampede towards the little dog who hadn’t yet realized the predicament he was in. But all animals know that a large group stampeding towards you is rarely a good thing, so the little wolf pup yipped in fright and leapt into Lan’s arms. In seconds, the two were surrounded, all of the children chattering and trying to pet little Ignis.

“Is this your dog?” one of them asked.

“He’s so cute!” said another.

Initially, Ignis was very afraid of the people surrounding him. But he soon got used to them and started to enjoy all the attention and petting that he was getting. Lan too was enjoying the many kids surrounding him and complimenting him on his little wolf pup.

“I’m making new friends” thought Lan. There were other little girls in the group surrounding him, but as he talked with them, he found that they didn’t make him feel the same way that Alayna did.

“So, it’s definitely true that its love!” thought Lan.

“Hey!” he heard Alayna call over the crowd. “I want to see it too!”

Lan determined where her voice was coming from using his heightened senses and then leapt into the air. The other children gasped as he soared above them and then came down with a thump right behind Alayna. 

“You wanted to meet him right” said Lan, holding out Ignis belly up, who was smiling and panting with his tongue lolling out.

“Ohhhh, he’s adorable” said Alayna as she petted him, Ignis closed his eyes in pleasure as she began scratching his ears. 

“Want to hold him?” asked Lan.

“Oh can I?” said Alayna.

Lan nodded and Alayna took hold of Ignis, letting out a slight oomph due to Ignis’s weight, and then cradled him in her arms like a baby. Ignis yawned and then rolled onto his back in her arms. Alayna nuzzled him with her face and he nuzzled back.

“She’s so cute.” Though Lan, at the very same moment that Alayna said “He’s so cute.”

Lan had read many stories about old warriors who had regretted not taking their chance with the woman they loved when they had the chance. So, Lan had decided he wasn’t going to be indecisive about this. He was going establish this relationship as fast as he could. 

“Um…Alayna?” asked Lan

“Yes?” said Alayna looking up.

“Well” continued Lan, “I was wondering if you’d like to—“

“Alayna!” yelled someone with a child’s voice, cutting Lan off.

“James!” shouted Alayna, who immediately recognized the voice “over here!”

A few seconds later a boy wearing a smaller version of the militia’s leather armor walked over. He had brown hair which was cut short, brown eyes, and a very pleasant looking face.

“Sorry I couldn’t play yesterday” said the boy Lan believed was James. “After the Grimm attacked my father ordered me to do some intensive combat training, what with my militia entrance exam coming up soon, and didn’t let me go until I finished, so I missed the party you all had.”

“That’s okay!” said Alayna “I’m just glad that you’re here now.” 

She placed Ignis on the ground, who made a whining protesting noise, and gave James a hug, which he returned with a smile.

For the first time in his life, Lan felt a certain sickening feeling spread throughout his stomach and felt himself grow slightly angry. 

“I guess this is jealousy.” Though Lan moodily, “It really doesn’t feel good.”

“Hello” said Lan, walking forward, quickly suppressing the feeling which had led many a great man to his doom. “Nice to meet you.”

“Hey!” said James, letting go of Alayna and turning to stare in his direction “You’re that warrior boy!” 

He ran over and began shaking Lan’s hand vigorously. 

“I saw you fighting those Grimm the other day, it was incredible! I never thought someone our age would be able to fight them so well against so many, and single handedly to boot!”

Ignis gave an annoyed grunt, as if saying that he had participated in the battle as well.

“Well” said Lan, slightly taken aback by James’s pleasant demeanor “Thank you. I’m guessing you’re going to become one of the militia in the future?”

“Yes!” said James, releasing his handshake and saluting “I come from a long line of fine guardsmen, and hope to live up to the family name. Thanks to the intensive training regime my father puts me through I am stronger than most of the other boys my age. But I can see from that thing on your back that my strength is a far cry from yours.”

“Thanks” said Lan, forcing a smile “and I guess you and Alayna have been friends a while?”

“Yeah!” said James “We were born the same year so we’ve gone through a lot together. Especially that time we got stuck in that tree in the forest, huh Alayna?”

Alayna giggled, and Lan suddenly found himself suppressing an urge to punch James in the face.

“Hey!” called one of the other children “Come over here, it’s time for the soccer match!”

The three of them turned their faces, and saw that the group of children had already split into two groups, one on each side of the field. Ignis began wagging his tail and running back and forth. He obviously wanted to play as well.

“We’re coming!” shouted Alayna, she then turned back to the Lan, Ignis and James. “I guess two of us go to each side. So, I guess it’s me and James on one side and you and Ignis on the—“

“Actually” interrupted Lan, dropping his bag to the ground. “I think it would be better if me and Ignis were on opposite teams. Both of us are pretty tough, so it’s only fair” James and Alayna nodded “I suggest that Ignis and James goes to one team and Alayna and I to go to the other.” Finished Lan.

James and Alayna both shrugged, “All right.” They both said in unison. Once again, Lan found himself slightly irritated.

The two pairs went to the opposing sides, a whistle was blown, and the game began. Much like Lan predicted, he and Ignis were able to easily outmaneuver all the other children, Ignis whizzing through the field like a red bullet and head-butting the ball and Lan flitting between players as a blue blur and kicking it. All across the field kids were kicking at air where the ball once was, falling flat on their faces as they tripped, and simply sitting down and pouting after they gave up trying to get the ball. Lan found himself unintentionally tripping James far more than any other child. It soon came down to just Lan and Ignis scoring goal after goal while their respective teammates struggled to keep up with them. When the whistle blew for half time, all players except Lan and Ignis collapsed onto the ground. 

The score was currently 10:7 in Lan’s team’s favor. Noticing that Alayna was also wheezing on the ground, Lan dashed to his pack; pulled out a bottle of water; and gave it to her.

“Thanks.” Said Alayna, gratefully accepting the liquid and chugging it.

“Hey!” shouted someone else “can we get some to?”

Lan didn’t have enough for everyone, so many people had to share. After a few more minutes everyone got up again to begin the second half.

“Oopsie” shouted Alayna, glancing down at a pink watch on her wrist. “I need to get home soon or mom will get angry.”

“Oh!” said Lan whipping around to face her “Let me walk you home!”

“Okay.” replied Alayna.

Lan offered her his elbow and, after a slight pause, she slipped her arm into the hole between his elbow and his side.

“Ignis!” Lan shouted back “You can continue playing with everyone, just come back before dinner.”

Ignis barked in understanding and watched as the two of them walked away. He then felt a palm on his head, he looked up and saw James looking down at him. 

“Ready to kick butt?” he said, smiling.

Ignis barked, and with his help, his team turned the points around and completely dominated the other.  
.  
.  
.  
Over the next few weeks Lan grew accustomed to living in town. He learned many societal norms, such as you cannot go to the bathroom in the bushes and that giving massages to random people was rude (the senior citizens back in Cunctantem Cinere had always enjoyed them), and had begun picking up knowledge about certain items, brands, and items that he had never heard of before (Anime, Manga, and video games being his favorite). He had also learned more about influential organizations and businesses such as the White Fang, the peaceful Faunus rights group that Sammy was currently a part of, and the Schnee Dust Company, one of the world’s most powerful Dust energy companies, and as a result he had bought many books on business and politics with the money he and his grandfather had earned from working in the militia. Lan and Byakko’s efforts had made defending the village substantially easier, and as a result the militia had needed to purchase much less ammunition over that time period, much to the ire of the local weapon manufacturers and the branch of the Schnee dust company that was located in the village. Lan had also been trying his best to get closer with Alayna over this time period and had achieved measurable success. They had chatted more frequently, played more often, and had been spending much more time together. However, Alayna still seemed to have a closer relationship with James, always dropping whatever she was doing, many of the time with Lan, to go and talk to James whenever he came near. This had always angered Lan to a certain extent and afterwards he was always ashamed that envy was able to take hold within him, but Lan had always been able to hold in his negative emotions and kept trying to be friendly with James, that is until today.

It was approaching evening, at that time the Grimm in the area usually became more active. Lan, Byakko and the rest of the next shift’s guard were in the tavern, enjoying a nice meal before their shift. Byakko’s meal of course, was composed of food that Lan had gathered from the surrounding area, and a variety of drinks provided by the barkeep. Since coming to Little Root, Byakko had…overindulged in the alcoholic beverages offered at the local inn, spending all of his income on them (thankfully he let Lan’s lien, the currency used in the world of Remnant, well alone.) He had just been paid that morning by the militia, so as always he was asleep in the corner of the room with empty kegs and bottles surrounding him. Lan and the rest of the guard usually chose to leave him well alone, after all he wasn’t needed most nights since most of the attacks by Grimm were repelled rather easily and waking him up was often met with disastrous consequences. Lan had just leapt down from his chair when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and found himself staring into the face of Rodrick, James’s father.

 

“Lan, have I got a surprise for you tonight!” he said with a smile.

“What?” asked Lan.

“Your good friend James has finally completed his basic combat training and will be joining us on the walls for patrols tonight!” said Rodrick, punching the air “aren’t you glad a friend will be joining you from now on?!”

Lan simply gave him a blank stare but when he saw a perturbed expression start to form on Roderick’s face, Lan, through sheer force of will, managed to put out a slight smile. 

Roderick smiled back, taking Lan’s gesture as a sign of approval.

“James is getting ready” he said, “you two will probably have tons of fun tonight!”

He then ran out the door, obviously in high spirits. After he left, Lan suddenly felt ashamed again for letting jealousy seize him up like that. He then took a deep breath and headed for the door.

“Got to get along” he thought, exiting the tavern “got to be friendly, James is a good guy and if I just give him the chance I…know we can be good—“

“Wow!” someone shouted.

Lan whipped around and saw James and Alayna at the end of the street. James was looking quite embarrassed because Alayna had moved her face quite close to his in her excitement. Alayna was wearing a bright green sweater and an earth brown skirt.

“You’re really going up on the walls tonight?” asked Alayna

“Y-yeah” said James, scratching his head.

“Oh Wow, can I come along?” responded Alayna.

“I don’t know” answered James “It’s going to be really dangerous.”

At that moment crashing and banging sounds emerged from within the tavern. A few moments later Byakko, still quite red in the face, burst out the door and startled them all. He then belched and dashed over to where James and Alayna stood, coming to a complete halt in front of the two. This occurred so quickly that the two of them jumped in surprise.

“I heeeaaard everything” he said, swaying slightly “and don’t lieet the boy fool ya girly. The walls pretty much safe. ‘belch’” Alayna stepped back, covering her nose with her sleeves. “We only getcsh beowolves and ‘caisionaly ursa round here, nutin that gets ober dem walls. The dangerous part on the ground where me and Lan kick ass! Guards on the walls safe and shoot at things” Byakko then paused for a sec, a stupid smile on his face. “yep” he said drunkenly after a few moments. 

He then let off a thunderous intestinal bomb, filling the air with stink and (due to its amazing force) sent Lan, who was unfortunately standing right behind him, flying through the air and into a wall. He then tilted forward and fell on top of James and Alayna, who both failed to get away in time, and began snoring.

Lan dislodged himself from the wall that he was stuck in and then ran over to his grandfather and pulled Alayna and James’s gasping forms out from under the man who was an embodiment of poor hygiene. 

“Thanks.” Both of them said. After a few moments of gasping, Alayna straightened up and turned to James.

“It looks like I’m okay for the wall James” she said.

“But what about your dad?” responded James “He’ll never agree to this.”

“Aw I can talk that big softy into anything” said Alayna with a mischievous smile on her face. “See you on the wall tonight; I’ll go change into something fitting.”

She then ran off in the direction of her home.

Lan and James stood there, Byakko’s snoring form evident in the background.

“What just happened?” asked James, shaking his head.

“Something” said Lan sighing “Well we’d better get to the walls now.”

With that, Lan gave a whistle and Ignis came bounding from wherever he had been hiding. The three of them then headed in the direction of the walls to get ready for the night, as well as get away from the odors that were constantly being emitted from the old man.  
.  
.  
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Lan was sitting down and leaning against one of the battlements on the top of the wall, wrapped in a blanket and with Ignis on his side. He peered out of the corner of his eye at the hubbub happening not too far away. James was showing Alayna one of the standard issue rifles that was given to every militiaman on the walls. Alayna was currently wearing a green travel cloak on top of an earth brown dress. Lan had tried to help show her around as well but James, having had received training in the usage of the weapons; tools; and protocols that came with being a militiaman, outshone Lan in explaining the workings of the defensive perimeter to Alayna. After all, whenever it came time to defend the walls, Lan and Byakko had always leapt from the top down to the bottom of the wall to confront the Grimm and seldom used any of the firearms (Lan had used them very rarely and Byakko never touched them. Serendipitously, their combat on the ground had also reduced the amount of repairs that had to be made on the wall, except for that one occasion where Byakko had gone into battle drunk and ended up punching a 6 meter hole in the wall which took Lan a full day to repair.), so after a few awkward attempts of explaining Lan felt that he was unneeded and slowly walked away from them and took a seat under a battlement. 

Lan sipped a cup of hot cocoa a militia man had given him, and grumbled as James began showing Alayna the locations of the emergency arms which were only to be used on the occasion that more powerful Grimm arrived. He was feeling quite gloomy as the night grew longer. Ignis sensed this and placed his head in Lan’s lap in an attempt to comfort him, but Lan never noticed.

After a little while he felt a hand on his shoulder. 

“You feeling okay kid?” 

Lan looked up and stared into Cassio’s scarred face. 

“I’m…” Lan glanced in the direction of James and Alayna, who were currently eating some standard issue militia rations together, “Fine” Lan almost spat the word out, but managed to restrain himself at the last second. Cassio however caught the meaning.

“Don’t feel down kid” he said, plopping down next to Lan and Ignis “Those two have been friends since they were pooping their pants” this elicited a chuckle out of some of the nearby soldiers “You’re not going to make as much progress over a couple weeks.”

“Am I that obvious?” said Lan, sighing and glancing down

“From what I can tell, this is your first love” responded Cassio “You haven’t had much experience hiding these kinds of feelings have you?”

“No, but…Cassio, um…do…you think I have a chance with her?” said Lan turning to look Cassio.

“Honestly…no” said Cassio “from what I can tell from talking with your grandfather, the two of you are only going to be here for another two weeks at the most. Not nearly enough time, unless something major happens, and also I’m afraid I couldn’t allow it even if it did work out. You and your grandfather wouldn’t be coming around too much, what with your journeys and all, and that would just make it hard for my little girl, and before you ask, no she cannot come with you.”

Lan sighed again and pulled the blanket over his face.

“Well” said Cassio, getting up “This will probably be good experience for ya. As they say: “It is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.””

He then walked away to check on the other troops.

Lan sat there a while longer, his glum mood deepening with each passing minute.

“This isn’t how it was supposed to go” he thought “Why didn’t anything happen that would get us closer, like with the highwayman in The Royal Bride story?”

Lan knew deep in his heart that you shouldn’t rely on fairy tale logic for real life romance, but the child in him kept overpowering that voice of reason. He turned, got up, and turned his head in Alayna’s direction, determined to go and talk to her. Alayna and James were both sitting down, fast asleep with their heads nestled against each other. Lan sat back down and let out a rumbling sigh. All of a sudden he heard Ignis start growling. 

“The Grimm are here huh?” said Lan, groaning and getting up. “Let’s get this over with.”

He waived down the nearest guard and had the man go and alert the other soldiers. He then turned around placed one of his feet on the battlements and leapt off the wall, Ignis following close behind. The two of them landed on the ground below with a large thump, their landing cushioned by their aura which created a blue flash and a red flash. The two of them then stood very still their eyes scanning the darkness and their ears straining for the smallest sound. They heard the sound of snapping twigs, the growl of bestial throats, and the plodding of clawed feet. Very soon they saw many sets of glowing red eyes looming out of the darkness. The first shapes they were able to make out were the bipedal wolfish forms of beowolves, and behind them were the looming figures of the large bear-like ursa. Lan assumed a fighting stance and Ignis bared his fangs and growled. The two of them waited as the creatures began to creep towards them.   
50 meters  
40 meters   
30 meters

“Fire!” Lan yelled.

There was the simultaneous click of multiple firing mechanisms, immediately followed by the bangs of multiple rifles going off in succession. The Grimm were peppered with ammunition and many of them fell right there. But others bobbed and weaved and avoided the shots, quickly closing in on Lan and Ignis. The first to make it through the gunfire was a large beowolf, an alpha by the look of it. It leapt into the air, diving straight for Lan and Ignis, raising its claw and twisting through the air. 

Like a red fire bolt, Ignis shot forward and head butted the Beowolf in the stomach. Bile squirted out of the creatures open mouth and its eyes opened in surprise, which made perfect targets for Lan’s aura covered pointer fingers. After leaping up and causing the previously stated damage, Lan swung both his feet forward and caught the beowolf in the chin. The force separated the two of them before the beowolf’s flails of pain could strike the boy. Blinded and senseless from pain, the beowolf was made quick work of by the stream of fire from on top of the wall. 

Seeing that more of the Grimm had made it through the laser fire, Lan seized the corpse of the alpha beowolf by the heel and began to spin it around. Once it had gained enough momentum, Lan let it fly in the direction of the Grimm, where it slammed into three beowolves and left them vulnerable to the militia’s firearms. 

“Same as the other nights” thought Lan, as he and Ignis returned to their defensive position.

Lan and Ignis continued to take care of any Grimm that managed to get past the militia’s firearms. Lan however was more aggressive this time than he had been on previous occasions. Instead of striking only at the softest tissues on the Grimm, he was throwing blow after blow at any exposed area that he could reach. He was irritated, very irritated, and the bloodlust of the battlefield was only adding to his burning emotions. The image of Alayna and James happily sitting together kept popping into his heads along with Cassio’s words. He kept punching every black shape that came near him, beginning to lose any thoughts about tactics and form. He found himself heading deeper and deeper into the line of Grimm, ignoring the claws that raked him and the gunfire that grazed him. He knew he was getting into a difficult situation, but he didn’t care. Luckily for him, the support from the militia prevented the Grimm from overwhelming him. Many guards shouted at him to come back, but he could hear them no longer he simply fought and fought and fought, and it wasn’t until he felt a tug on his leg from Ignis that he noticed something strange. The gunfire had completely stopped. There were considerably few Grimm now compared to when they had begun, but that was by no means a good reason for all the weapons to have stopped firing. It was then that he noticed the yelling from on top of the wall. Lan and Ignis leapt back, creating some good distance between them and the Grimm and turned to look up at the wall. What they saw, silhouetted against the moon, was the giant raven-like form of a Nevermore descending on the wall.   
.  
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A few minutes earlier

Cassio surveyed his surrounding soldiers as he reloaded his rifle. All of them were reloading and firing with military precision, their usual stress gone thanks to Lan and Ignis’s efforts down below. He then turned and looked in the direction of his daughter who was watching James with dreamy eyes as he fired at the Grimm below. Everything was going quite smoothly. He had been quite worried when Alayna had asked to come onto the wall earlier, but nothing even remotely dangerous was occurring.

“Maybe I was overthinking things” thought Cassio, leveling his rifle at a group of beowolves that had been knocked over by a corpse thrown by Lan. “We’ll finish with these guys soon and then I can send the kids back to…”

His thought trailed away as a loud screech split the sky above him. The men around him stopped firing and stared straight up. Silhouetted against the moon, a Nevermore descended down towards them. It had been years since one of these powerful Grimm had last been sighted in this area, so the guard was completely stunned by this sight. Cassio was the first to recover and quickly shouted at his men to begin firing. The boom of multiple firearms filled the air, but each shot was useless against its durable hide. Cassio shouted at his men to unlock the emergency weapons cache, but too late.

The Nevermore crashed onto the wall and scattered the guards that were unlucky enough to be in that area. Men and women were knocked off the wall as it thrashed about, and debris was sent flying in both directions. Cassio ran over to one of the emergency weapons caches, knocked aside the man who was fumbling with a key, and smashed the lock open with the butt of his rifle. He then removed a rocket launcher which had an explosive missile made from a refined red dust crystal. He then whipped around, aimed at the Nevermore and fired. The explosive whizzed through the air and exploded as it smashed into the Nevermore’s side, sending a shower of feathers into the air. Screeching in pain, the Nevermore flapped its wings and flew into the sky once again. 

“Open those things up already!” shouted Cassio, throwing down the used rocket launcher. “We need to blast that thing to kingdom come before it—“

He paused as he noticed something in the area where the Nevermore had crashed down. James lay groaning near the site of the impact, blood trickling down the side of his head. 

“Alayna.” Whispered Cassio, his blood running cold. He ran to the crash site and looked around desperately for his little girl. 

“Alayna!” he yelled, hoping that she would pop out from behind some of the debris. 

He looked all around the area but was unable to find her. With a sinking feeling in his stomach he looked over the edges of the walls, expecting to see her down at the bottom on one of the sides along with the guardsmen that were knocked down but she wasn’t there either. Cassio turned his head left and right, checking and rechecking the wall and the sides of the walls over and over again. 

Then above his head the Nevermore screeched once again, Cassio looked up and saw the Nevermore circling far above, it was a terrifying sight to see such a dangerous creature so near yet so far from their village. But what Cassio noticed, clutched in the Nevermore’s left talon, chilled his blood more than 100 Nevermores would have.

“I got it!” yelled a burly militiaman, who had another rocket leveled at the Nevermore. 

“No!” Cassio ran forward and knocked the rocket launcher out of the man’s hand. The weapon went off and the rocket flew off and crashed into a small group of Grimm on the ground, blowing them to pieces.

“That thing’s got Alayna!”

True enough, clutched in the nevermore’s talon and knocked out, was Alayna, who was incredibly lucky just to be alive.

“Get Byakko!” yelled Cassio, “Wake that idiot up!”

One of the militiamen saluted and ran off to do the deed. A minute later there was an impact and a large dust cloud rose up from the center of the village. Another minute later Byakko arrived at the top of the wall, carrying the militiaman’s limp form over his right shoulder.

“What’s up?” he said, scratching his ass.

“That Nevermore has got Alayna!” shouted Cassio

“I can bring it down” replied Byakko.

“Excellent!” sighed Cassio “Now—“

“But!” interrupted Byakko “if I do, she’ll fall to her death.”

Cassio groaned and put his face into his hands. The nevermore screeched again. 

“Captain!” yelled one of the militiamen. “The Nevermore is beginning to fly away!”

“What?!” yelled Cassio “What about Alayna?”

“Probably going to get eaten.” Said Byakko flatly.

Cassio growled and rounded on Byakko.

“We’re all thinking it.” Said Byakko, shrugging his shoulders.

There was a crunching sound from what sounded like halfway up the outer wall, Byakko looked down and smiled.

“Solution is here.” he said.

A moment later, Lan leapt onto the wall, throwing down the limp forms of some of the militia who had been knocked off the wall, a moment later Ignis appeared and did the same.

“Alayna--” began Cassio.

“I know!” shouted Lan “Grandpa, operation human bullet!”

“Alright!” shouted Byakko, raising his arm palm up and with the elbow bent.

Lan jumped up onto Byakko’s palm and fixed his sights on the Nevermore. 

“Can you make the shot?” asked Lan.

“Hmmm, Can I?” said Byakko

Lan looked down.

“Can y—“

Before he finished the sentence Byakko, threw him. Lan blasted through the air, wreathed in a layer of his Grandpa’s white aura. The Nevermore had its back to him and didn’t notice the projectile until it was too late. Angling himself with bursts of his aura so that he wouldn’t crash into the Nevermore anywhere near Alayna, Lan crashed into the Nevermore’s back, his grandpa’s aura discharging around him in a thundering burst. 

The Nevermore screeched in pain and was nearly knocked out of the sky, normally if Byakko threw something at a Nevermore it would have a large whole where the projectile passed through, but this time around he had reduced the strength of the throw to account for Lan’s…safety and Alayna’s close proximity. 

As he collided, Lan grabbed onto the Nevermore’s feathers and began to climb his way down to its talons. When Lan was halfway to his destination the Nevermore recovered its balance and, sensing there was something clinging to it, began to fly in a violent and random pattern in attempt to throw Lan off. However, Lan’s grip didn’t loosen, his fingers tempered from his grandpa’s finger training, and he continued down unperturbed. He soon reached the talon that held Alayna. Lan channeled all the aura he could on short notice into his right hand, raised it, and smashed it into the joint joining the nevermore’s leg and talons. It was like driving a nail into a crack in the wall. With a loud crunch the cartilage broke and the bones disconnected. The Nevermore’s screeched in pain and released its grip, causing Alayna to begin to plummet towards the ground. 

Lan leapt forward, kicking off the Nevermore with all his strength and flew towards Alayna, catching her limp form in his arms. He then angled himself in the air so that his feet pointed at the ground, and prepared for their inevitable crash landing. All of a sudden, a feather from above whipped by Lan’s face. Lan looked upwards and saw that the Nevermore was flying in his direction and quickly gaining on them, but Lan also noticed something else and smiled. 

“Hey bird-brain” yelled a gruff voice from above.

The nevermore turned its head to look behind itself, and found itself inches away from Byakko’s smiling face.

“Raggle Saggle” said Byakko, emphasizing both words. Both of his hands were raised. I am not going to explicitly explain what happened to the nevermore next. But you should know that he brought it to ground level with a single blow, afterwards he landed near it and made…quite the mess out of it to put it lightly.

Lan landed on the ground with a large ‘wham’, kicking up a cloud of dust. Luckily, he and Alayna had landed on the edge of the forest. If they had actually landed in the forest they could have been quickly ambushed by large numbers of Grimm.  
Boosting his speed and agility with aura enhancement, Lan dashed back towards the town, avoiding any other Grimm that came near them and quickly arrived at the wall. A cry of joy came from the top. Lan looked up to see Cassio, James, and the rest of the guard, looks of absolute joy on their faces. With a last burst of strength, Lan placed a foot on the wall and dashed up its length, coming to a halt at the very top and then slumped over and began wheezing. 

“Alayna!” cried Cassio, grabbing her out of Lan’s arms. “Thank goodness!”

“She’s fine right now” said Lan, breathing hard. “She’ll ‘gasp’ probably wake up in a few minutes. Take ‘inhale’ care of her for now.”

“I promise I will this time!” shouted James, tears streaming down his face.

At that moment there was a large screech from the woods. Lan whipped around and saw the massive scorpion-like form of a deathstalker exit the trees.

“I got this” said Lan, taking a deep breath. “Just got to keep it busy till grandpa gets to it.” 

Lan turned and leapt off the wall, closely followed by Ignis’s lupine form, and dashed towards the deathstalker. A white glimmer could be seen from within the forest showing Byakko was quickly returning. 

The soldiers on the wall executed standard medical procedure with Alayna, checking her physical status and apply the necessary treatment. It was mainly carried out by James who was crying and saying how sorry he was for bringing her to the wall as he knelt over her and carried out treatment.

“It’s not your fault James” said Cassio as a white explosion lit up the field below, showing that Byakko had arrived “It’s mine. I should never have let her sweet talk me into letting her come up here.”

“Hey!” yelled one of the guards “Lan and Byakko have suppressed the rest of the Grimm and are heading back here.”

A cheer went up from the rest of the militia.

“Excellent” shouted Cassio. “We would have been badly prepared to handle those powerful Grimm without them. Make sure they are—“

At that moment a groan escaped Alayna’s throat. All eyes whipped around and stared at her. Slowly but surely her eyes opened and slowly focused on James whose face was right above hers.

“Wha-What happened” said Alayna groggily,

“Alayna!” shouted James, his eyes filled with joy “You’re awake!”

“I remember being attacked by a big bird” said Alayna “and after that I—“

Her eyes then widened as she made sense of the situation.

“I was almost killed” she cried, sitting up “I got snatched up in that nevermore’s talon. I thought for sure I was going to die. I remember the ground getting gurther and further away, and and--”

“It’s okay Alayna” said James, petting her on the head. “You’re safe now.”

Alayna then turned her gaze towards James, and a brilliant smile slowly spread across her face. “Oh James!” she cried “It was you wasn’t it? You saved me!”

She then wrapped her arms around his startled form, pulled him close, and kissed him right on the lips. The kiss was held for three long seconds, during which all the guards, especially Cassio whose jaw had dropped, were speechless. After disengaging, James swooned slightly and then quickly shook his head, clearing away the mist.

“N-No. Alayna!” he said, his face beat red “the one who saved you was—“

He was cut off by a scraping noise that came from the outside battlement. Everyone turned to stare in that direction. Standing there, a shocked expression on his face was Lan. The whole group stood in silence for a few moments. Then Lan’s head tilted downward and his whole body began shaking. A single tear-trickled down the side of his face and his breathing began to grow violent.

“Lan.” Said Cassio, approaching the boy and reaching his hand out in an attempt to comfort him “It’s not—“

Lan violently knocked Cassio’s hand away with a swipe of his arm and ran past him and the rest of the guards. He reached the other side of the wall and leapt off the wall into the town. Blind with grief, his coordination skills were severely impaired. He messed up his footwork as he stepped onto a rooftop, slipped, and crashed into many wooden walls before he landed face down on the ground. Slowly, he picked himself up and ran towards his home, tears flowing down his face like rain.

The guards stared after him, their faces sorrowful. A few seconds later there was a second crunch on the outside battlement. Byakko stood there holding Ignis in one of his large hands. 

“What the heck just happened here?” he said, setting Ignis’s shivering form onto the ground.

Cassio turned towards Byakko slowly and looked the large man in the eyes.

“Love’s cruel sting.” He replied

Byakko looked at him, and then at James and Alayna who were both giving blank stares. 

“Well, I guess it’s okay.” He said, picking his right nostril. “Was probably going to happen anyway…Whelp, just leave him alone for a while. He’ll get over it eventually, and if he doesn’t I’ll give him the needed kick in the pants.” Byakko scratched his chin and then brought up his face suddenly. “Well night everyone, see you in the morning. Come on Ignis.”

Byakko seized the young pup, who whimpered again, and then leapt off the wall. Far did he soar into the sky, and as he passed in front of the moon he thrust his front leg forward and bent his back leg, and raised both arms above his head in a circle, forming the silhouette of a muscular man performing ballet. As he descended he spun through the air and landed on his feet with a thump right in front of his home, just as a black shape ran in and slammed the door.


	15. Chapter 15

Ch 15

Over the next week the village started to become livelier. Everyone was preparing for the O Festival which honored the memory of the previous captain of the guard, who had been renowned as a famous war hero and had died along with his wife 20 years ago due to the foul workings of one of his malignant cohorts, and to add insult to injury it was only two weeks after he and the woman he loved had been married. The festival took place over that time period, starting with a week-long jubilant festival with food; games; and dances and the last week having silent ceremonies as well as plays and ballroom dances to honor the name of the hero and his beloved, as well as denounce the evils that had brought about his end. 

During that time, Lan hadn’t improved in the slightest. Everything he did was either sluggish or done mechanically. He had stopped cooking, so Byakko hunted and cooked his own food, which often resulted in the town having to fumigate the area after each of his meals to clear out the resulting noxious fumes. Lan had also stopped his usual studies, and as a result his mind began to grow duller. Lan simply stayed in his room for most of the day, lying in bed with a vacant expression on his face only leaving to get a quick nibble or use the restroom. 

He simply didn’t know how to feel right now. He had tried his hardest to become friends with James, so he felt powerful feelings of betrayal as well as anger towards him even after Byakko told him the details of the incident. He was also angry at Alayna for giving away her kiss like that and as a result, as he saw it, her love. He knew it was her own choice and that he didn’t have the right to meddle in such manners, but he had loved her and still continued to now. He just couldn’t get that scene out of his head, and each time it resurfaced his soul shook with anger even as he tried to forgive and understand. Chaos and order, jealousy and forgiveness, hatred and love. All these and more opposing forces swirled throughout his insides during this time, slowly breaking him to pieces. 

Alayna and James had come to visit Lan during this time period, worried for his well-being. However, they were always turned away at the door by Byakko, who believed their presence wouldn’t be good for the boy at the time. 

During this time, Ignis had stayed by Lan’s side, only leaving the room to get food, water, or defecate. The little wolf tried his best to cheer Lan up, licking him, placing his muzzle under the sheets to touch Lan, as well as many other kind gestures. Lan often acknowledged these gestures by patting Ignis on the head here and there, but he mostly went unchanged.

Byakko, although he had never set an exact date that they would leave the town, had also extended their stay to give Lan time to pick himself up. But true to his word, after the sixth day Byakko had had enough and gave Lan that promised kick in the pants (although it was actually tipping Lan out of the bed and kicking the boy out the window). But this only managed to get a minor grunt out of Lan, who then continued to stew in his swirling emotions only this time he did so in a mud puddle instead of a bed. Byakko had even given up on training during that time period due to the boy’s lack of enthusiasm. Even the fear for survival, which was Byakko’s most used tool during the training to draw out more of the boy’s…enthusiasm. The training Lan did participate in he did without spirit, performing each exercise almost mechanically. Byakko believed that training with mentality like that would end up hurting the recipient’s skills more than helping. 

“You can’t get any real results out of someone who does things with no spirit.” He had said. “I should have snapped him out of this funk the night he came home crying. That way the mood wouldn’t have had time to take hold of him like this. “

Today was the first day of the festival, and Byakko was determined to use it to bring Lan’s spirits up. Once evening began to approach and the stalls for food and games started to open Byakko went to go get Lan. Lan was rather unresponsive when Byakko had told the boy to get ready, so Byakko had pulled him out of bed, stripped off the boy’s dirty clothes, bathed him (by shoving the boy into a vat of hot water and swishing him around a few times), dried him, and put the boy into a festival kimono. Ignis also was spruced up for the festival. The little wolf had donned a warrior’s body paint and had combed his fur on a carved tree trunk. After donning a kimono himself, Byakko hoisted Lan onto his right shoulder and walked out the front door. 

He headed for the heart of the celebration, the town square, which was lined with many stalls that provided food, games, and other sources of entertainment. 

“Mmmmmm.” said Byakko, sniffing the air “You smell that boy, it’s the delicious odor of meat! Roasted on sticks. Let’s go get some!”

Lan grunted in acknowledgement. Byakko then walked from stand to stand purchasing whatever delicacies were on display, mostly with Lan’s stockpiled money from the guard work. The boy never spent it after all, and if it was just going to sit there, Byakko decided that he should use it to cheer his boy up. Each time they came to a food stand, Byakko ordered 3 orders of the dish on display. Two of which were immediately devoured by him, and the third was shoved into Lan’s mouth. Lan, however, didn’t have the enthusiasm to chew these dishes and just let them stay in his mouth. As a result he soon found his mouth stuffed to bursting point with all manner of festival foods, many of which still had their sticks in them. 

“This isn’t working” thought Byakko, shoving two boxes of takoyaki down his throat and one box into Lan’s overstretched maw. “It looks like we’ll need the big shock after all.”

Using his heightened sense of smell, Byakko picked up on the trail of the two people that could possibly shock Lan out of his funk at present time.

He honed in on the scent and quickly followed the sent through the crowd, many of the people laughing once they saw Lan’s stuffed mouth which was now bursting with various foodstuffs. After a little bit, Byakko spotted the forms of 6 people in the crowd. 

“Cassio, Rodrick!” he yelled, “I see you two are out with your families today. And how are you two, Alayna and James.” 

The six people turned around to look at Byakko, but before they completely turned around there was a large cracking noise in Lan’s direction. Byakko looked up to his right and saw that Lan had forcefully bit down on and was quickly chewing up everything in his mouth, which included wood and plastic, so as not to look foolish. However, with his cheeks resembling those of a well-fed chipmunk, he still rather did. 

“Ah Byakko, it’s good to see you.” Said Cassio, who was wearing a green t-shirt and a pair of baggy black shorts. “I see you have donned the festival clothing of your homeland. Ah! and I see Lan has cheered up! How are you feeling my young friend?”

Lan grunted and then swallowed the mass of protein, carbohydrates, and packaging material in his mouth.

“Great” said Cassio, who approached along with the other five.

His wife Bianca was with him, who was a slender, darker-skinned, woman with long curly hair. She was also wearing a t-shirt, as well as a pair of tan shorts. Alayna was wearing a light green and blue party dress and was holding a stick of cotton candy in her left hand and her mother’s hand in her other.

“Hello Lan.” Said Bianca, gently “My daughter has told me much about you.” 

“Mmmm” said Lan, staring at the ground.

“Oh come on boy” said Byakko, slightly miffed “greet her.”

Byakko wrenched Lan off of his shoulder and placed the boy on the ground.

Lan was staring down at the his bare feet down below, and noticed as pair of small delicate feet wearing brown sandals entered his vision.

“Hey Lan” said Alayna quietly, bending forward and turning her head so she could see into his downcast eyes. “You feeling okay?”

The Lan’s heart began to beat faster again, his entire vision filled with the vision of the one he loved. But then the memory of that night 7 days ago surfaced, and he felt tears begin to form behind his eyes. 

“Yeah” said Lan, turning his face away and quickly wiping away the tears that spilled forth in an attempt to hide them from Alayna. “I’m fine.” 

“Hey” said James, placing his hand on Lan’s shoulder “the misunderstanding’s cleared up just so you know.”

Lan turned his head and looked at the other three standing nearby. 

Rodrick was wearing a brown coat on top of a black turtle neck and a pair of tan pants. His wife was wearing a dark, earth brown dress. And James was wearing a black t-shirt and a pair of orange shorts.

“Alayna knows that you’re the one that saved her now” continued James.

“James” said Rodrick, exasperated “That’s not what he’s—“

“Anyway” interrupted Cassio, “now that Lan is up and about what say we stick together and have an enjoyable outing hmm?”

Everybody, with the exception of Lan, agreed to it fervently. Lan simply nodded his head slowly. The eight of them then began to march through the festival, playing games and eating food. Lan still wanted Alayna to be happy however, so even though he was feeling quite lugubrious he still put forth all the effort he could muster when playing the games, and as a result won numerous prizes, most of which he gave to Alayna, who was more than happy to receive them. In one of the games he showed that even though he was specialized in close quarters combat, his marksmanship was still far superior to James’s. The game was shooting cans, and the prize you obtained was based on the number of moving cans you could shoot down with the 10 bullets you had. James managed to shoot down eight cans and received a mid-high prize, a pair of wool gloves. Lan, however, shot down twenty in less than a quarter of the time, and how did the boy shoot down twenty cans with just 10 pieces of ammunition? Well, let’s just say the boy knew how to use ricochets quite well. This won him the grand prize, a giant white stuffed kitten, which he gave to an exuberant Alayna. Lan continued to show off his skill in many other games, often outshining James and even some of the adults. 

“Is this kid really depressed?” grumbled Rodrick, as Lan flicked numerous goldfish out of the water and into a plastic bag with his 1st paper net while Rodrick had just torn his 5th. Cassio said nothing and merely grunted, as he was incredibly over encumbered by the numerous prizes that Lan had given to Alayna.

Showing up James in almost every single game, only losing to James in games of pure luck, and being on the receiving end of Alayna’s gratitude from all the prizes he had given her had slightly improved Lan’s mood. He had gone up from grunting in response, to giving his answers in short sentences. Byakko smiled as he viewed his grandson’s improved disposition. Everyone in the group, with the exception of Lan; Ignis; and Byakko, began to grow tired after a while, especially the over encumbered Cassio, and decided to take a break. They spread out a blanket on a patch of grass far from the festival crowd and all took a seat. Cassio collapsed onto the grass and dropped all the prizes, forming a pile nearly three feet high. 

“We’ll go grab some grub.” said Rodrick, standing up alongside his wife, Cassio, and Bianca.

“And I’ll make my meal!” shouted Byakko, piling together wood to build a fire.

“No!” they all shouted.

“Grandpa” said Lan hurriedly, “let me handle the cooking part, just bring the ingredients and the giant cooking utensils from home!”

“Can do!” said Byakko grinning, and leapt out of sight. The parents quickly left as well, leaving Lan, Alayna, and James alone, Ignis was snoozing in the grass not too far away along with a couple of stray dogs that he had made friends with. Away from the happy lights, chattering crowds, and jovial atmosphere of the festival Lan felt his depression quickly returning.

“I need to use the bathroom.” Said James getting up. “be back soon.”

He then walked away. Now it was just Alayna, Lan, and the Ignis who had just went belly-up.

“You feeling better Lan?” asked Alayna gently.

“Hmm? Oh uh…yeah” said Lan, absentmindedly.

“Lan” said Alayna with a huff, “I know you’re depressed that I gave James the credit for saving me, but that was just a silly mistake, you don’t have to get so upset over it!”

“That’s not it” said Lan quietly.

“Then what is?” said Alayna, looking helpless. “You’ve been like this for a whole week! You haven’t come out to play, haven’t trained, and from what your grandfather said you haven’t even bathed! Lan I..I” Alayna paused for a moment, and then began to tremble. “I’m sorry” she said, a single tear trickling down the side of her face. “I know I hurt you somehow and…I’m sorry Lan.”

There were many things that Lan could take. He could take being punched in the stomach by a fist that could shatter boulders, he could take being lighted on fire by ignited methane (which usually came from the same source as the fist), and he could take being beaten to a bloody pulp for no apparent reason (once again from the same source). But he couldn’t take this. He couldn’t take seeing the girl he loved hurt. 

Reaching his arms out, hesitating slightly, Lan pulled Alayna into an embrace. 

“It’s not your fault.” said Lan gently, sighing and patting her on the back. “If anything its mine.”

After Alayna’s trembling stopped, Lan pulled back and patted her on the head.

“There is a reason I was so down Alayna, but…I can’t tell you just yet. It could end up making things pretty awkward.” When Alayna gave him a confused expression, Lan sighed. “What I’m saying is…” 

Lan honestly didn’t know what he was saying. He was frustrated, downtrodden, and also slightly scared. What could he say to make her understand? What could he say to make all this pain stop? He struggled with himself for a few moments, pinned under Alayna’s expectant gaze. Then it came to him. The words that could explain it all to her, the words that could make the pain go away, the words that could possibly make the situation better for him than it was before. 

He had tell her that he loved her. This was the only way. But as the thought solidified in his mind, he found his face growing hot. It would be by no means easy for him to do this. It’s never easy for anyone. He also feared how their badly their relationship would change if she refused him.

“What you’re saying is?” said Alayna, motioning for Lan to go on.

Lan took a deep breath, and then turned his head to look in the direction of the booths where the sounds of laughter were vibrating from. Hearing this, Lan was reminded of Alayna’s laughter, of the joy he felt whenever he saw her smile. If he told her now, it would very well make enjoying the festival much more difficult for her as well as make things awkward with those around them. Nodding, Lan made his decision.

“I’ll tell you on the last day of the festival.” He said, looking back down at her “Until then I think we should just try to enjoy ourselves, and don’t you worry, I’ll do my best to pick myself up in that time.”

“Okay” said Alayna, “It’s a promise then.”

“Yeah” said Lan.

“Pinky swear?” said Alayna, holding out her pinky finger.

Lan paused for a moment, and then smiled. “Yeah” he said, and curled his pinky around hers.

“Whooooooo!” came a loud voice. Lan and Alayna jumped in surprise and turned in the direction the voice had come from. 

Byakko popped out of a large bush, a net full of fresh ingredients clutched in his right hand.

“That was wonderful you two!” he said, pretending to wipe his eyes “A five star kiddie love if I ever saw one.”

“Wha?” said Lan

“W-We’re not lovers!” shouted Alayna, which caused Lan’s shoulders to slump once again.

With a muffled thump, Cassio; Bianca; Rodrick; Rodrick’s wife; and James fell out of the bushes as well.

“Daddy” said Alayna, looking surprised and then stern. “How could you?”

“Not my fault.” Said Cassio getting up “this crazy old tiger knocked us out with some kind of rag soaked in some foul smelling liquid and dragged us into the bushes.”

“That wasn’t no rag!” shouted Byakko, who then lifted up his arm and took a deep inhalation of his armpit “Ahhhh! That there was the smell of success!”

Cassio’s face, as well as those all the others that were in the bushes, turned very green and they rushed back into the foliage where Lan and Alayna heard them release various retching sounds. A few minutes later they all returned, carrying the bags of food they had bought from the festival. Sniffing the air, Ignis awoke and ran to the nearest person who was holding food.

“Alright!” shouted Byakko “Let’s eat”.

The whole group sat down and began eating the snacks. Lan got started on cooking grandpa’s food and was mostly standing above a giant skillet for most of the meal, grilling a variety of meet and wild vegetable while he munched on whatever snack was handed to him. With the large number of tasty festival foods, Lan’s cooking satiating Byakko’s appetite, and the peace and joy that comes with eating and talking with friends, the whole group had a wonderful time.

After they had finished it was getting to be pretty late and Alayna was beginning to yawn. Saying goodbye to Lan and Byakko, the Moors scooped up their belongings (Bianca carrying the drowsy Alayna and the bags and Cassio picking up the massive pile of prizes) and quietly excused themselves. James’s family quickly followed suit. 

“So you’re finally going to tell her huh?” said Byakko, picking his fangs with a chicken bone.

“Yeah.” said Lan quietly, staring in the direction the Moors had left.

“Good luck little man.” Said Byakko, lifting up his fist.

“Thanks” said Lan, bumping fists with Byakko.

The two of them then cleaned up the giant cooking utensils, picked up Ignis (whose stomach was visibly bulging), and quietly made their way home.  
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The next two weeks were enjoyable what with Lan’s better mood and the festival finally getting into full swing. Everyone was having a great time. They laughed, ate, danced, played, drank, and sang, enjoying everything that the festival had to offer them. Lan had also picked up his training a little bit once again. 

During the many dances that took place, Lan only danced with Alayna, even while she and James danced with many other partners, and simply sat on the side of the dance area when he wasn’t dancing with her. 

Despite what he had said to her, Lan was still feeling quite down and only pretended that his mood was improving whenever someone came nearby, the whole time it was at about the same level as end that of the night of the first day of festival when he had made his promise. Still, he managed to wholeheartedly throw himself into the festival, although instead of playing around the whole time he often found himself helping out with many of the stand-owners and event planners through his culinary ability and his advanced athletic skills. But his enthusiasm in helping out came with mixed results. Thinking Lan had already cheered up, due to his increased activity, Alayna started to pay less attention to Lan and spend more of the festival with James. So once again, Lan’s feelings of isolation began to grow even as he was showered with gratitude from the many people he helped.

At the end of the 1st week of the festival, things began to taper down. They were now entering the second half of the O festival where the jovial festivities were replaced were replaced with more solemn ceremonies. People dressed mostly in black during these times and visited the memorials and graves of their dearly departed. The calm and sorrowful atmosphere that permeated the town resonated with Lan’s own downtrodden spirit and the calm yet sorrowful appearance that most of the villagers carried meant that Lan no longer had to hide his own depressed mood under a fake smile. 

The “festivities” mostly took place at night during this time, during the day the villagers mostly went about their usual business. At night the all except the guards that were on wall duty would gather in the large theater in the center of the town where they would be served a high quality meal and watch a play that depicted one part of the captain’s life, after which a speaker would come out and talked about what they all must learn from the events that took place then. Each villager would then take a lit candle and leave the room one by one, walk through the town to the tomb of the captain, and place the candle at the foot of the stone structure. The area that had been set aside for the captain’s tomb was a large circular area surrounded by trees at the edge of the town. The tomb consisted of a stone gazebo, under which there were two stone coffins. Surrounding the gazebo were a few elaborately carved statues, each holding a glowing orb that lit up the area each night. Lan noticed that Cassio always had a nostalgic look on his face as he took part in this ceremony, and later discovered the Cassio had been the captain’s 2nd in command.

“What was his name?” asked Lan during the 1st night of the festival, after he had set down his candle. Instead of telling Lan, Cassio walked up to a moss covered portion of stone, wiped it off and pointed to the name written there.

Othello, guard captain of Little Root.

Lan had then nodded and quickly walked back home.

During the second half of the festivities Lan had seen Alayna with decreasing frequency, due to her family’s connection with Othello causing them to become quite reclusive during that time, and as a result his mental fortitude had begun to waver. He grew less and less confident over his approaching confession and the sorrowful feelings he had received from learning of the difficulties Othello had gone through increased the severity of the storm that was raging in his heart. The pattern continued until the end sixth and final part of the play that took place on the second to last day of the festival, a heart-breaking reinterpretation of Othello’s death. 

Lan had enjoyed watching the plays about the man, he was an inspiration to the downtrodden yet at the same time so full of faults. The man had started out as a poor orphan, but had risen through the ranks thanks to his military accomplishments and at the end had retired to this small village to live a quiet life with his wife. If not for the scheme of one of his jealous subordinates, he would have had it. Lan felt a strange kinship with the man as he learned about him. He felt that he was very similar to him but at the same time very different. He felt the man’s joy at the heights of his career as well as the sorrows that tormented him towards the end of his life, but most of all Lan sympathized with the biting pain that Othello experienced when he believed that his love’s heart belonged to another. 

He went to bed that night with a heavy heart, his mind filled only with thoughts about Othello’s tragic death, but the very next morning when he opened his eyes to the first rays of sunlight he suddenly remembered his promise to Alayna. He was completely unprepared, he hadn’t thought about how he was going to tell her, what kind of mood he wanted to set, or even where he wanted to tell her. 

Gripped with panic, Lan ran downstairs to the house’s small library, sat down at the desk, pulled out a pen and many sheets of paper, and began to plan. A few hours later Byakko woke up and Lan had to go prepare breakfast, by then the boy had written 10 different scenarios he could possibly use. When he finished cooking, returned to the study, and reviewed the scenarios; he discovered how…unrealistic they all were. Sighing and throwing the crumpled balls of paper into the nearby refuse bin. He then sat there for a little while, bent over and clutching his face in his hands. After a few minutes, which was usually how long it took for Byakko to finish his food (statistically speaking, the shorter amount of time you spend eating a meal the more calories you ingest), Byakko popped in and found Lan’s depressed form. Byakko stared at him for a few moments, slowly walked over without Lan noticing, knelt down on Lan’s side, and let loose a slow and deep belch into the boy’s ear.

“Agh!” shouted Lan, jumping up and shuddering, a shiver running down his spine. 

Byakko reached his hand into the refuse bin, Lan attempting to stop him but failing miserably, and read each scenario in turn. After he finished, he looked up, licked his lips, and smiled. 

“You do remember there’s a dance tonight right?” he said

“Huh?” said Lan blankly.

“The formal dance thing later tonight that’s to celebrate that Othello fellow’s life.” Said Byakko “You could probably have a nice confession there.”

“Ah?” said Lan, suddenly remembering “…right.”

The two of them looked at each other for a few moments.

“Well, I guess I know what to plan for now.” Said Lan, reaching for a pen and a pad of paper.

“You know what you’re going to wear?” asked Byakko.

“I guess I’ll just wear the custom gi” said Lan, clicking the pen and beginning to write.

“You have much to learn boy” said Byakko, smiling and shaking his head “That’s just not going to cut it for what you’re going to do.”

“Well it’s not like I can wear anything else” said Lan, beginning to write “all I got besides the gi are t-shirts and shorts.”

“Well” said Byakko, reaching into his gi, “Not anymore.”

Byakko pulled out a brown package and handed it to Lan.

“Whuh?” said Lan, taken aback “…is that for me?”

“Yep” said Byakko, as Lan took it “Open it up.”

Lan ripped off the brown paper and shook the clothes out. It was a new, shining black tuxedo, complete with a dark blue tie and a pair of shining black leather shoes. 

“I ordered that from a tailor a few weeks ago, provided him with the materials to make it too” said Byakko “It’s made from the thread of giant spiders, so it’s real strong and as for the shoes, I got those from tanning the hide of a black lion I killed a long time ago.”

“Wow” said Lan, turning it this way and that “Thanks grandpa but…where did you get the mon—“

“I paid the man in the leftover spider thread” replied Byakko “It’s pretty valuable material after all. To get it you have to catch a live giant spider, rip open its belly and grab its—“

“I get the picture grandpa” said Lan, chuckling “’sigh’ thanks grandpa, really…thanks.”

“Any time little man,” said Byakko, pointing at him with his hands in gun-like shapes. “Now you better get your lines ready. You don’t want to make a fool of yourself. You got to smooth. You got to be cool. You got to be—“

“Not like you normally are?” said Lan

“Yep!” said Byakko, “glad you understand. Well I’ll leave you to your business for now. Have fun brainstorming little man!” he then got up and walked to the door “for the lot of good it’ll do ya” said Byakko quietly.

“Huh?” said Lan, taking the seat, “What was that?”

“Oh, nothing” said Byakko “Have fun!”

As soon as he shut the door and was out of earshot the large man sighed. 

“Writing a plan huh? The boy’s still got a lot to learn.” Byakko walked out of the house and then stared up into the afternoon sky. “These things have got to go naturally…well Iet’s see how things go for now, but just in case.” Byakko pulled a wrinkled notebook and opened it up. The top of the list read : To do List for Lan’s rearing. 

Byakko reached inside his clothes, gathered up a number of insects and crushed them in his hand. He then dipped one of his claws into the goop and wrote: prepare Lan for dating, right under prepare package to give to Lan’s future wife. He then shut the notebook and went to check up on the preparations for the end of the festival.  
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Lan stood outside the mayor’s manor, which was being used as the location of the last festivities. He was feeling extremely nervous as he listened to the chatter and music that were leaking out of the door. Decked out in his new tuxedo and at the entrance to the area where one of the biggest events of his life would take place, he felt all his preparation of planning fading from his mind. What if he made a mistake? What if he did something stupid? And why the heck was he thinking about questions that only a character from an awkward romance novel would think about? These questions and more flew through his mind. He began breathe deeply in order to calm himself down, deep and slow in, deep and slow out. He began to shut out every thought in his mind, until the only thing left was resolution. He walked forward and slowly reached out for the door handle, but paused right before touching it.

“Oh for the love of— will you just get in already!”

Lan turned his head just in time to see a large heavy foot speeding towards his rear. Poor Lan never stood a chance. The impact sent him flying forward, bursting through the doors and over the head of many startled party goers. He came crashing down onto a startled group of musicians, sending instruments flying in all directions. The whole room stared as Lan groaned and slowly got back to his feet. 

“Alright!” shouted a voice from the other end of the hall “The entire room turned their heads and watched as Byakko, wearing a tuxedo that looked one size two small for him, walked into the room. “Party!”

He then made a beeline for the food and drinks, the crowd parting as he ran through. Luckily, Lan had delivered a large amount of ingredients to the festival planners earlier so there wouldn’t be a problem with a lack of food, even with his grandfather eating. 

Brushing himself off and helping the musicians get back in order; Lan looked around the room taking in the sights. It was a large rectangular banquet hall with doors in the middle of each wall, it had a towering ceiling supported by stone pillars and the whole room was lit by bright lanterns, shedding a golden light over everything. The floor was packed with people and was lined on the sides with the refreshment tables, except for the entrance door that he had flown through. In the center of the room was a large bronze statue of the Othello, his right hand extended to the right and his left hand holding a long spear. He was a largely built bald man and was wearing a long trench coat.

After he had finished helping the musicians Lan began to wander around the large hall to find Alayna. During this time many young girls approached Lan and asked to dance with him. Lan didn’t realize it thanks to his fixation on Alayna, but he was actually quite popular with many of the girls his age in town thanks to his strength, kind personality, and vast skill set. He politely refused their offers, without even thinking about why he was being approached so often. He eventually spotted Alayna eating with her family at a circular table. Lan took paused as he looked her, took a deep breath, and then walked over. She had her back to him as he approached her. Cassio and Bianca waived at him as he approached, their hands containing eating utensils. 

“Hello Alayna” said Lan.

Alayna turned around to look at him. She was holding a knife in her left hand and a fork in the other, her cheeks were puffed up with food, and she had a speck of tomato sauce on the left side of her mouth. She smiled once she saw him and, with seemingly great effort, she swallowed her food and wiped her mouth, after which she got up and turned to face him. She was wearing a green dress with patterns of leaves and other aspects of nature, a pair of silvery gloves, a silver chain necklace, and a pair of earth brown high heels. She was brilliant, and Lan felt his heart lighten as he looked upon her.

“Lan” she said, beaming at him “glad you could make it!”

“Y-yeah” said Lan, blushing “wouldn’t miss it and—“

“So!” interrupted Alayna, “When are you going to tell me the reason you we’re feeling down?”

Lan paused for a moment, opened his mouth, closed it, and then smiled.

“I thought we agreed we’d leave that towards the end?” he said. “Come on, let’s enjoy the final party for now, I’ll tell afterwards.”

“Well…” said Alayna, a skeptical look on her face, “All right.”

She began to turn back towards her plate but Lan quickly stopped her by gently grabbing her shoulder.

“Alayna?” said Lan, noticing that the musicians had started playing again. 

“Yes?” said Alayna, surprised by Lan’s uncharacteristic forwardness.

“May I have this dance” answered Lan, reaching out with his right hand.

Cassio and Bianca turned to each other and smiled at each other, as if they both understood what the other was thinking. “Ah to be young and in love.”

“You may” said Alayna, blushing “But…just hold on a little.”

Alayna turned back to her plate and shoved her desert, a piece of key lime pie, into her mouth. After downing it with tea and wiping her mouth with her napkin, she got up and turned to the smiling Lan.

“Let’s go!” she said, taking Lan’s outstretched hand. The two of them walked out to the dance floor, where many other pairs were gliding across the marble floor. Lan took Alayna’s right hand in his and, with great hesitation of course, placed his left hand on the side of her waist. Alayna, laughing slightly as she saw how nervous Lan was, gently took hold of Lan’s left shoulder.

“Have you ever danced before?” asked Alayna, who had learned how by watching and imitating her mother.

“No” admitted Lan, “but how hard could it be?”

And as the two of them began to move in time with the song, Lan showed that he could more than put his money where his mouth was. From watching the dancers as he had walked through the room, Lan had memorized the movement patterns and steps of the dance that was being used throughout the hall, and with the physical skills he had gained from the intensive training his grandpa had put him through he was able to execute them quite well, only instead of the graceful flowing movements of dancing his movements contained the sharpness and precision of martial arts. Luckily for Lan, the dance movements quickly became instinctive because after the initial pride he felt from showing off his dancing skills the reality that he was dancing with Alayna clicked and he slowly became more and more nervous, especially when he realized how close her smiling face was to his. 

“Uh Lan?” said Alayna halfway through the first song “You feeling okay?”

By this time Lan’s face was as red as a turnip and his hands were producing torrents of sweat, his confident front had all but crumbled. 

“Y…yeah” choked Lan, who was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe. “I-I’m fine.”

Alayna frowned slightly and cocked her head to one side as they glided across the floor.

“Sure doesn’t look like it” she said, noting Lan’s increasingly panicked expression.

They danced a little while longer and stopped as the song came to an end.

Lan stood there a moment after he had let go of her hands, still enraptured in the moment. Slowly the feeling that he should say something became evident. He looked down at Alayna’s face, desperately thinking of what to say, luckily for him, Alayna took care of that for him. As he looked down at her, she smiled warmly, gazed into his eyes, and embraced him, burying her head into his chest. This surprised Lan but as he felt her warmth seep into him, his surprise was replaced by peace and calm. Slowly he extended his arms and embraced her as well, and placed his head on hers. After a time that Lan felt was much too soon Alayna let go, smiled at him, then walked back to her family through the crowd. Lan stared after her for a few moments, smiling. A warm glow was spreading out to the rest of his body from his heart. He then turned around and headed towards a table in the back of the room that was stacked to the ceiling with empty dishes and vibrated every once in a while with booming laughter. 

“Still haven’t told her yet huh?” said Byakko, who had obviously listened in on them with his keen sense of hearing.

“Just waiting for the right time.” Said Lan, smiling. He then sat down with his grandpa, picked up the menu and ordered his meal.  
.  
.  
.  
Lan had just finished his third round of the party’s 8-course kids-meal special (The training he is put through makes him burn a lot of energy, so he eats much more than a normal child his age) when the clock at the top of the manor chimed 10 o’clock. The door at one end of the hall opened and a large statue of Desmona, Othello’s wife, was wheeled out. The crowd parted before it as it was pushed towards the center of the room by two large men in tuxedos. With a clunk, the statue slid into ruts in the floor and came to a complete stop next to Othello’s statue. The statues were placed in such a way that their hands touched, almost as if they were holding each other’s hands. The music slowly faded away and a large portly man, most likely the mayor, stepped up onto the podium. 

“Greetings everyone” he said in a booming voice “and thank you all for coming here today to celebrate the end of the O festival with us. Through these two weeks we have celebrated and honored the life of this great man. But now it is time to lay this all to rest as he was, side by side with the woman he loved. Once again, thank you all for coming and for this last song, as tradition dictates, only couples will be allowed to occupy the dance floor.”

Lan got up as the hall began to fill with new music, and began to search for Alayna. He first walked over to her family’s table, but found it empty. Cassio and Bianca had obviously already hit the dance floor, and Lan assumed that Alayna had probably went looking for him for this dance. He then turned towards the center of the ballroom, which was now a circle filled with pairs of dancers. As he began to walk towards it he felt a strange feeling of foreboding, his instincts were telling him to stay away from the flowing mass of people, that he should just walk away, but he ignored the feeling and continued on. Lan pushed through the first line of dancers and entered into the group, bumping into couples here and there. While searching for Alayna, he briefly caught sight of Cassio and Bianca as well as Rodrick and his wife. For the brief moments when they each saw him, Lan thought that Cassio, Bianca, Rodrick, and Rodrick’s wife looked worried the moment they recognized him. But Lan quickly brushed off the feelings of disquiet they gave him and continued to search for Alayna. 

Finally, a quarter of the way into the song, Lan noticed a small green dress vanish between two dancers. Smiling, Lan ran after it, slipping through the gaps between dancers with amazing precision. Passing by two darkly dressed patrons, Lan emerged into a small circular space almost free of dancers. It was there that Lan caught sight of Alayna. He lifted up his arm in greeting and was about to yell out to get her attention. But the yell died on his lips as he saw who was with her. 

James, wearing a black dress shirt and black pants, was dancing with her in the center of the small circle. The two of them were embracing, their eyes closed and the mouths curved into smiles as they moved right and left across the floor, their faces flushed from their close proximity to each other. Lan lowered his arm, and the warm feelings that had filled him before had vanished. Alayna had never blushed like that when she danced with him, she also never looked as happy as she did now. Lan felt an empty feeling fill his stomach as what the mayor had said only minutes before rang through his skull. 

“couples only. Couples only.”

“Oh how cute” he heard someone near him say.

“A perfect young couple.” said another.

These comments ignited Lan’s anger like gasoline being thrown onto a bed of hot coals. Lan’s breathing grew deeper and faster, his vision focusing only on James and Alayna’s embraced forms. He hated them. He hated them more than anything else right now. He took a single step forward and when he placed the foot on the ground, he released a shockwave of aura that smashed the ground under his foot, sending up a cloud of white powder and creating a network of cracks. The crowd around him gasped in surprise, and many moved away from the young boy. Alayna and James jumped in alarm as well and turned to look at Lan’s seething form. 

Lan, his fists tightly clutched and his mind dulled with rage, lifted his foot up to take another step forward. He wanted to hurt them, he wanted to make them pay for making him hurt this much. But that feeling was short lived, but a momentary eruption in Lan’s gentle spirit. The moment he looked into Alayna’s face, which was now full of fear, Lan felt his anger fade away and quickly replacing it was shame, emptiness, and despair. 

Tears were beginning to trickle down his face. He tried his best to hide them, to not show his weakness to Alayna, but it wasn’t working. Especially since the dancers around him had quickly surrounded him and had made him the center of attention, now that they saw that he wasn’t a threat to them. They all asked him if he was all right, what was wrong, and if there was anything they could do. Lan’s red face was buried in his hands, trying to hide away from them. He peeked out between his wet fingers, hoping that some of them had left.

What he saw was Alayna, who was walking towards him with a worried expression on her face. 

“Lan?” she said.

No. She couldn’t see him like this. Not in such a shameful state. Lan screamed, releasing a shockwave of aura that caused all those around him to lose balance and fall onto their backsides. 

Lan leapt from where he had been standing and slipped through the crowd, running past person after person until he had reached a door that led outside. Lifting a fist, Lan smashed his knuckles into its polished wood, and sent the double doors flying off their hinges. Then with a cry filled with anguish and despair, Lan dashed through the opening and ran into the dark moonless night, tears streaming down his face rain, just like that night 3 weeks ago.


	16. Chapter 16

Ch 16

Lan ran through the dark, past the dark shadows of buildings that once held comfort for him but now mocked him as shadowy counterparts of their former selves. He was angry, ashamed, and wracked with sorrow. Alayna had picked James over him, this was the thought circulating through his brain as he ran and ran. Part of him wanted to run back to the ballroom and beat James to a bloody pulp, part of him of wanted to just breakdown right there, but the biggest part of him wanted to get away from all, to keep running until his feet bled.

Slowly but surely, sense began to return to him and as his thoughts started to become organized his pace began to slow down. He suddenly realized that he had ended up on a path in the middle of what appeared to be a small forest. He was breathing heavily at that point; he hadn’t even realized that he had become that exhausted. Stopping, Lan bent down and placed his hands on his knees while he tried to get his breath back. After a few moments his breathing slowed and he was suddenly struck with the realization that he didn’t know where he was running. He had simply burst out of the ballroom in the heat of the moment and had senselessly run in random directions. Now that his rational had begun to surface, he soon found himself reasoning with himself, trying hard to calm himself down.

Yes, it had shocked him when he had seen the two of them dancing together, especially when it was a ‘couples only’ dance. But how did he know for sure she thought James and herself as a couple? He could have just jumped to a conclusion without properly analyzing the situation. Her red face could have been because she had been flushed from the heat of dancing, and she had also hugged him during her dance with him, so why should he be jealous of her hugging James? She probably treated all her friends like that. 

Reasoning with himself like that, his anger slowly faded away and replacing the void was shame over what he had done. He knew for a fact that his little outburst had scared and alarmed many of the people there. Who wouldn’t be scared of an angry child who had just cracked a stone floor with his foot? How could he have had an outburst like that in front of everyone? Especially right in front of Alayna? Lan covered his eyes with his right hand and groaned as he remembered the fear that had appeared on her face. What did she think of him now? Would she be afraid of him from now on?

Lan moaned as negative scenarios of what her response would be began to fly through his mind. He pictured her slapping him, crying, and even kicking him in the nether regions. Steeped in a new wave of depression, Lan didn’t realize that he had started walking again until he rammed forehead first into a stone pillar. Staggering backwards and rubbing his forehead, Lan discovered that he had walked right into the middle of Othello’s tomb. Standing there in the stone monument illuminated by the glowing orbs held by the statues and the white light of the moon, Lan felt his negative emotions recede back into the depths of his heart, and was slowly replaced by a feeling of tranquility. Here, buried in this place was a man who could have understood him, a man who had felt pain even greater than Lan had received. “Compared to that, what right to I have to complain over my situation?” thought Lan.

Sitting down on the top step and pulling his legs to his chin, Lan gazed at the two tombs at the center. No thoughts passed through his mind as he did this. He simply sat and stared, unthinking and unmoving as a gentle breeze whispered through the pillars of the monument. It was as if he had disconnected himself from the world he lived in and was watching all of this through the eyes of a free spirit, unbound by the shackles that bound a mortal’s thoughts. Every floating leaf, every ray of light, every gust of wind was a new stitch in the beautiful tapestry that was set out before him. He suddenly found himself desiring to simply to take it all in.

Something stirred within him at that time, something that was all too familiar with the sensation that the boy now felt. The spirit within him had suddenly found itself unsuppressed by the volatile environment of a human soul, free from the pressure exerted upon it by a more powerful spirit. Slowly, it began to regain its awareness and restore its strength by drawing upon the natural energies that Lan took in simply by breathing. It soon began to move itself from its previous position to a place where it would better be able to recover; the very core of the boy’s being. Closer and closer it came until it was at the edge of the boundary that marked the entrance to Lan’s core. A tendril of energy seeped out of the spirit and closed in on the barrier. Closer, closer…

“Lan?” came a quiet and sweet voice “is that you?”

With a jolt, Lan snapped out of the tranquil state that he had been in and whipped his head in the direction of the voice. This sudden impulse of awareness caused a powerful shockwave to emit from the core of Lan’s soul, knocking away the spirit and causing it to spiral away. It came to a stop in a part of Lan’s being that was far from the core but better than the outskirts where it had dwelled before and was held in place there. A feeling close to exasperation was briefly emitted by the spirit but quickly faded; after all, it had all the time in the world to wait.

But back to Lan.

Lan found himself face to face with Alayna. Judging from the sweat dripping from her chin, her messy hair, and the few rips in her dress, the girl had obviously ran after Lan to search in of him after he had ran out of the hall. 

“Alayna?” said Lan, still half-dazed “how did—“

It was then that all the negative emotions that had faded away flooded back into him with a vengeance. Fearing that he would break down in tears in front of her again, Lan turned his head away, covered his eyes, and attempted to keep his breathing steady. 

Her eyes filled with concern, Alayna slowly walked over to Lan and sat down beside him.

“There there.” She said, patting him on the back. “I don’t know what’s wrong but you should cheer up Lan.”

“Cheer up?” thought Lan, as he wiped away the snot dribbling out of his nose “How can I cheer up when the reason I’m hurting so much is sitting right next to me?”

The two of them sat together for a little while, an awkward silence slowly building up between the two. Surprisingly, the first to break it was Alayna.

“Um…” said Alayna, stumbling over her words “y-you could…t-tell me what’s wrong Lan. I…might be able to help.”

Lan moved his hand away from his eyes and fixed Alayna with an empty stare. 

“You’re ‘mutter’ ‘mutter’ me” muttered Lan, once again averting his gaze.

“What?” said Alayna, scooting closer towards Lan “I didn’t catch that.”

Lan gritted his teeth and clenched his fists until his knuckles became white. He felt something pushing through the barriers of his good-nature, like a volcano pushing its way out of the earth. He tried to suppress it but found it breaking through every mental barrier he set in front of it until finally it burst.

“YOU’RE WHAT’S WRONG WITH ME” shouted Lan, rounding on Alayna who scooted back in alarm. “WHY DID YOU—“

Lan quickly caught himself before he went any further. He bit down hard on his lip to prevent any more hurtful words from pouring out and struggled to get his temper back under control. His whole body shook with effort as he attempted to force back what had just exploded. 

He tasted blood in his mouth and knew that he had just bitten into his lip. He turned around as tears of pain and frustration began to pour down his face. But still, he couldn’t settle down, too much blood was going to his head. Walking away from the monument, Lan stopped in front of one of the large trees surrounding the area, pulled his head back, and began to repeatedly smash his forehead against the wood. Blood and splinters flew from the point of impact as Lan head-butted again and again and again. 

When he finally stopped he had smashed through more than half of the tree’s width. Then, to make sure the tree didn’t fall on the monument, Lan gave the top portion a punch and made it topple onto the trees behind it. 

He then took a deep breathe, pulled out a handkerchief, wrapped it around the bleeding portion of his head, and walked back to Alayna who was still wide-eyed with surprise and was covering her mouth with her hands.

“Sorry” said Lan, plopping down next to her “Lost my cool there.”

“N-no problem” said Alayna, scooting closer to him now that she saw he was completely calm. “Uh, are you okay?”

“Better” answered Lan.

Now that he had lost some blood, Lan found that he could think a lot more clearly due either to his now calm mind…or the dizziness that was brought on from blood loss. He no longer felt as nervous and apprehensive as he did before. He finally felt ready to hold a civilized conversation.

“So did anyone else come to look for me?” asked Lan

“Yeah” said Alayna “My dad, your grandpa, Rodrick, and James.”

Lan responded to the last name with an annoyed grunt. 

“H-Hey!” said Alayna, “I thought it was me you we’re mad at!”

“Yeah” said Lan “but it’s because of what you did with James.”

“What?” said Alayna, looking confused “What did we do?”

“Well, there was the dance back there” said Lan moodily “why did you dance with him during the couples only dance?”

“Well, we’re best friends!” said Alayna.

“So are we.” grumbled Lan.

“Yes” admitted Alayna “but I found him first and I really wanted to start dancing, so I just took his hands and got started.”

“Sure.” Said Lan, rolling his eyes “and I guess all that cuddling I saw was a special dance technique?”

“Lan!” shouted Alayna, her face turning bright red “That…That was because the song playing was so romantic, didn’t you pay attention to it?”

“Not really” responded Lan, looking at the ground “I was focusing too much on trying to find you.”

Alayna opened her mouth closed it, puffed up her cheeks, turned her head away, and started pouting.

A slight smile crept onto Lan’s face as he watched this.

“Still so adorable.” He thought.

Lan found himself growing increasingly dizzy for some reason; his thoughts were growing more and more muddled. This was most likely due to the blood that was beginning to leak out from the bandanna, so he tightened it once more.

“Well” said Alayna, turning back to Lan “I already danced with you once, and it’s only fair that James got a turn right?”

Lan found himself growing a bit angry again.

“So, what?” he said “then you’re saying you like us both equally?”

“Yes!” said Alayna.

“That’s a lie.” said Lan.

“Whuh, you—“said Alayna, looking surprised and insulted.

“If that’s the case” continued Lan “Then why did you kiss James that time?” 

Alayna, completely caught off guard by this, was stunned into silence for a few moments.

“W-Well” she finally said, her face beet red “Th-that’s because I was caught up in the moment! Anyway, why do you even care about something like that? I told you I was sorry for giving James the credit! Why are you still so hung up on it?!”

Lan sat there, his fingers pressed together, staring into the sky. The time had finally come, much more suddenly than he had expected. Lan took a deep breath, slowly exhaled it, and turned to face Alayna. Sensing that the atmosphere had changed, Alayna shuffled nervously under Lan’s calm yet strong stare.

“You want to know the reason?” said Lan, shifting closer to Alayna.

“Yes.” Said Alayna hesitantly.

Lan opened his mouth, but suddenly found it very very dry. He closed his mouth, swallowed to moisten it, then slowly reached out with his trembling hand and placed it on top of Alayna’s.

“Alayna!” he blurted out.

“Yes?” squeaked Alayna, surprised.

“I-” started Lan “I—“

The words just wouldn’t come out. He pushed and pushed, but they just kept getting stuck in his throat. Why was this so difficult? Where had his calm gone? He had practiced over and over and over again to prepare for this, even had Byakko play the part of Alayna once or twice (which ended badly on both accounts just so you know). But even after all that he was finding it near impossible to get the words out while placed under Alayna’s innocent gaze. He felt his face growing more flushed as he kept choking on his words.

“Lan?” asked Alayna who had just recovered from her shock “you okay?”

“Ohhhhhhhh.” Moaned Lan inside his mind “I’m going to fail, and then it’s all going to be over. This will end up becoming one of those best friends forever things and then I’ll never be able to tell her again. Ahhh what am I going to—“

“Shut up!” came a familiar voice inside his head, the very same gruff and crass voice that had been with him for as long as he could remember. “Hurry up and get to it already, I’m getting bored!”

Lan felt pain explode against the side of his head, as if he had just been smacked, but when he reached up to touch the area, there wasn’t any bruise, swelling, or any indication that he had just been harmed. But it did have some effect on the boy. All of his nervousness had completely disappeared and his trembling had stopped.

“Always there to knock some sense into me aren’t you?” thought Lan. He then looked up and smiled at the now very confused Alayna.

“Alayna.” Said Lan, once again calm.

“Are you sure you’re okay Lan?” said Alayna “you’ve started and then stopped so many times that…well I’m starting to think that maybe you might have a concu—“

“I love you” interrupted Lan.

Alayna stopped, blinked, cleaned out her right ear with her pinky finger, and shook her head.

“Sorry Lan” she said, “I think I must have heard you wrong because—“

“I love you” repeated Lan.

Alayna stared at Lan for a few moments, and then all of a sudden her face turned scarlet.

“L-Lan!” she stuttered, “w-why are joking like this, it isn’t really nice and—“

“I’m not joking” said Lan, squeezing her hand slightly, “I really really like you.”

If at all possible, Alayna’s face flushed an even deeper scarlet and she began to babble nonsensically about how it was such a surprise and other random things while she began playing with her hair.

“And that” said Lan, interrupting her embarrassed babbling “is why I was so upset when you kissed James.”

Alayna stopped mid-sentence and stared into Lan’s honest eyes. They looked at each other for a few moments before Alayna spoke again.

“So” she said slowly, breaking her gaze with Lan “I guess you want to hear how I feel?”

“That would be nice” said Lan.

Alayna took a deep breath, averted her gaze, and then placed her hand on her chin, obviously thinking. Lan gave her as much time as she needed, he knew such a decision wouldn’t be easy for a sweet young girl like her and that she would need plenty of time to think. They sat there hand in hand under the light of the moon as the minutes slowly ticked by. Finally, Alayna lifted her gaze and turned towards Lan. Lan’s heart leapt to his throat as she opened her mouth. What would her answer be?

“I’m sorry Lan” she said. Lan’s heart sank to the bottom of his stomach. “But…I just don’t know.” Lan perked up a bit and continued to listen. “You’re really nice. You’re strong. And you’re really cool when you fight. But…I don’t know. I just don’t know if it would work or not.” 

“Why?” asked Lan.

“Well” responded Alayna “we’re still just kids and…for all we know there may be people better suited for each of us out in the world.”

“Ah” said Lan, starting to become gloomy “So for you, James is a better choice.”

“No!” shouted Alayna, appalled “Lan, how could you say that. Both of you are my best friends, and I like you both equal. ‘Sigh’. Lan, I’m sorry but I really don’t think this is a decision that I can make right now. We’re still kids, there’s still so much we have to learn about before deciding on something like that. You know like how people talk with each other, how things work in the adult world, and—“

“About each other?” finished Lan.

“Yeah.” Said Alayna, sighing in relief. “Glad you understand. Now come on let’s get pack to the party and—“

“So you’re saying” interrupted Lan “that I have a chance with you?”

Alayna closed her mouth, blushed, and shifted around nervously.

“Yeah” she said “I…guess so.”

“Okay” said Lan, getting up and scratching the back of his head “I guess that’ll do for now.”

“Well” said Alayna, doing the same “I guess we’d better head back n—“

“Just…one moment Alayna” said Lan, seizing her hand. “You said that right now you like me and James just as much, right?”

“Yeah” said Alayna, slowly.

“And you said you want things to be fair between us two for now, right?” said Lan

“Uh huh” said Alayna nervously.

“So…don’t you think you owe me a little something” said Lan, blushing and smiling slightly.

“What?” asked Alayna confused.

“This.” Said Lan.

Before she could react, Lan leaned forward and kissed her on the lips. Projected onto the ground in front of the tomb by the light of the moon was the now linked shadow of the two and as if by the hand of some kind of divine intervention, Lan was standing on the side of the tomb that Othello’s stone casket was located on and Alayna was standing on the side of the tomb Desmona’s was located on, as if symbolizing the everlasting love of the two that now slept there.

They stayed like that for several moments, until finally, Lan pulled back and smiled down at Alayna’s blank expression. He had done it. Just like the knight in shining armor in all of the fairy tales he had read, he had kissed his princess, and had won her heart…

At least, that’s how he thought should have been like.

As Lan stood there smiling and looking at her, he noticed something forming at the corner of her eye. A single tear had welled up there. Alarmed, Lan released his grip and stepped back. More and more drops began to appear as well, filling both her eyes to the brim until finally, they all spilt out.

“Waaah” Cried Alayna, dropping to her knees. She covered her eyes with her hands and then began to wail. 

Lan was stunned, he had never heard about, watched, read, or learned about anything like this happening. He didn’t exactly know why she was crying but he did know that this was his fault.

“Alayna!” said Lan, dropping to his knees and grabbing her shoulders “I’m sorry, I sorry I kissed you. Ohhhh if you really didn’t like me that much you should’ve just told me.”

“No!…Lan!” said Alayna through her tears, her nose starting to clog “It’s not you it’s” the rest of her words were covered up under her sobs. Alayna didn’t hate Lan, in fact she like him more than most people. But a little girl’s heart is as pure as a snowflake and just as delicate. She had been completely unprepared for Lan’s excessive forwardness. 

Lan was feeling completely helpless, he didn’t know what he could do to make her feel better, didn’t know how he could make amends, and he was growing more panicked by the second. 

“Hello!” someone shouted. Lan turned his head to look in the direction of the voice. Standing there with a lantern in his hand and a smile on his face was James. 

“There you are!” he said “We’ve been looking for you for—“

It was then that he noticed Alayna’s hunched form. The smile disappearing from his face, James ran over to the two of them, dropping the lantern onto the stone in the process. The light inside went out with a soft hiss. 

“James” said Lan, standing up “I—“

“Move!” shouted James, pushing Lan out of the way. He then dropped onto his knee and looked into Alayna’s face. 

“Alayna!” he said, gently grabbing her arm with his right hand and placing his left on the top of her head. “Alayna, are you okay?!”

But Alayna was unable to answer him, her tears blinding her from what was in front of her and her ears deaf to everything save the sound of her own sobs. 

Lan stood near the two of them, his mind erratic and his soul disturbed. Biting down on his lower lip, Lan reached for Alayna’s shoulder, hoping to help calm her down.

With a sudden movement, James lashed out with his arm and knocked Lan’s arm away. Backing away and gripping his wrist, Lan watched as James began to rise.

“What the heck did you do?” growled James, “You made Alayna cry!”

“James” said Lan meekly, his mind blank from desperation “I—“

“Shut up!” yelled James, rounding on Lan “You know what? I don’t care what the reason was! You made Alayna cry you jerk!” James put up both his fists and entered into a kickboxing fighting stance “And now I’m going to kick your ass!” 

Dashing forward, James threw a right straight at Lan’s face. 

Make no mistake. Lan felt like he deserved this. He wanted to get hit by that punch, to receive some judgment for what he had done. However, Lan had been trained by his grandpa to react to any danger that he sensed. With the fist speeding towards his face his body acted almost instinctively. Tilting his head slightly, Lan avoided the blow completely. After which he grabbed James’s wrist with his right hand and twisted it upward to hyperextend James’s elbow joint. Lan then slipped forward and slammed his left palm upward into James’s elbow joint, dislocating it. He then knelt down, bent his arm, stepped forward, and rammed his elbow into James’s side, knocking him backwards and breaking several ribs. This all happened in just under one second and sadly, unlike Lan, James didn’t have his aura unlocked, which meant that he had taken the full force of Lan’s blows with nothing to protect him. 

James crashed onto the ground screaming in pain, his one good arm grasping his ribs. Realizing what he had done, Lan ran over to James to check on him, but because of James kicking out at him in whenever he got close, he wasn’t able too. Suddenly James starting coughing, each cough sending shivers of pain through his body. Then with a horrible splattering sound, James coughed up and spluttered out a mouthful of blood. Realizing that his broken ribs must have punctured something, Lan tried to rush over and help, but was once again held at bay by James’s kicks. 

Coughing again, James spat out a burst of blood that flew out farther than his last…far enough that a single drop landed on Alayna’s crying face. Feeling the cold sensation hit her; Alayna sniffed and brushed the area with her hand. She opened her eyes a crack and looked down at her palm. Alarmed at the sight of the crimson liquid in her hand, she yelped and jolted backwards. Then, with tears still pouring out of her eyes, she became aware of the screaming and looked in the direction it came from. What she saw was James clutching his ribs and screaming on the ground, only stopping every so often to cough out more blood…and Lan standing right in front of him. 

“James!” cried Alayna, who quickly stumbled to her feet and ran over to his side. She dropped to her knees, attempting to help him. But not knowing what she could do to help, she simply sat there with a helpless look on her face, her hands moving this way and that above his writhing form. 

“Oh my god!” cried Alayna, tears flowing from her face faster than ever. “James!”

Lan moved forward this time intending to provide medical treatment to James whether he wanted it or not.

“Alayna, please move away” said Lan “I’ve got to check what was punct—“

“No!” shouted Alayna, moving herself between Lan and James, spreading out her arms in a protective gesture.

“Stay away from him!” cried Alayna “How could you do this to him?! Because I said I liked him as much as I liked you!? He was your friend! How could you hurt him like this?!”

“No-Alayna” stuttered Lan, moving forward again, his hand outstretched “I didn’t mean to, he—“

“No!” yelled Alayna, who was both angry and frightened “Get away from us! You aren’t our friend anymore! You beast! You monster! You-you Grimm!”

To be called a Grimm, to be called as bad as one of those dark creatures that stole lives and destroyed dreams like they were nothing, to be called one of the very creatures that had taken away the many of the things that mattered the most in his life, and by the girl he loved the most, how could any young child have stayed strong? Lan felt something break inside of him, felt a splitting pain spread out from his heart. He staggered backwards, clutching his chest as though he had just been shot. Then, with tears spilling out of his eyes, he turned and ran into the forest as fast as his legs could carry him leaving James and Alayna behind.  
.  
.  
.  
It was dark, the trees around him blocked out the light of the moon. He didn’t know where he was going, what he was going to do, or what he wanted anymore. But he didn’t care. He just kept running and running. No matter how many times he fell, no matter how many times he was cut up by the surrounding foliage, no matter how many times he rammed into something he couldn’t see; he just kept on running. All he felt now was pain, emptiness, and sorrow. He had finally had love in his grasp, but with one stupid mistake he had shattered it to pieces, and worst of all he was now hated by the girl he loved. Running through the darkness, he felt that he was being eaten up by the void, slowly being melted away into nothingness, and that was what he wanted right now. To become nothing. Slowly, however things became lighter and lighter, until finally he broke through the last group of bushes and emerged into the moonlight. 

He stopped here, slowly getting used to his new bright surroundings after being in the dark so long. To his left was the edge of the town, to his right were the town’s towering wall, and directly in front of him was a large, hairy, muscular Faunus wearing a black gi and a solemn expression on his face.

“G-grandpa” spluttered Lan “I-I—“

“You don’t need to say anything else” said Byakko, who strode forward, knelt down, and embraced his grandson. “I heard what happened” he wiggled the two ears on the top of his head to emphasize the point. “and don’t worry Lan, grandpa will take care of the rest.”

Lan felt pain explode near the right side of his lower neck and the world turned black.  
.  
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First awareness returned as Lan began to awake, then physical sensations, then thought. He was feeling quite groggy for some reason and the back of his head was pounding. From the textures of what he felt surrounding him, he knew he was in bed. He turned onto his side to continue sleeping, but suddenly felt something odd. The whole room was shaking, just like when his grandfather carried the house, but that shouldn’t have been the case. Byakko had never picked up the house since they arrived at the…

Lan’s eyes shot open as that thought triggered the realization of the many others connected to it. He bolted up into a sitting position and looked through the window near his bedside. New scenery was whizzing past his window as he gazed outward, a large open plain dotted here and there by trees. “Why was the house moving?” he thought “shouldn’t we be at the village?”

Lan sat there a few moments, gathering his thoughts and waking up the outer recesses of his mind. Then he remembered. The kiss, the blood, and the tears. Lan leapt out of bed. He wanted to find the two of them, to apologize and to possibly save their friendship. However, the moment his feet touched the ground the house shook violently, causing him to fall onto his backside, and then slammed down with a loud crash. Then came the crash of the front door opening followed by the clomp of heavy feet. They came to a halt in front of the door of his room. Realizing what was about to happen, Lan leapt to the side just in time to avoid the door that had, once again, been kicked out of its frame and came flying forward. Standing in the doorway was none other than Byakko, his right foot stuck out and his right hand holding what appeared to be a large piece of charcoal.

“Good morning sleepy head!” said Byakko, “Feeling better?”

Lan groaned and got to his feet. 

“Grandpa?” he said “how did I end up he—“

He was cut off mid-sentence by a sharp pain that flashed from the back of his neck, which caused to gasp and grab said area.

“Sorry I was so rough last night” said Byakko, placing the charcoal onto a table “but you needed to be subdued as fast as possible before your negative emotions permeated your being too much, and I do not know how to harmlessly knock a person out.”

“Whuh-but…Alayna and James!” cried Lan, “I need to go apolo—“

Byakko held up his hand and cut the boy off. 

“No you don’t” he said “I already took care of everything. I’ve already spoken to Cassio and Rodrick, they pretty much got the gist of what happened and were pretty understanding.”

“James’s injuries?” asked Lan

“Taken care of.” said Byakko. “He was taken to the hospital and was quickly stabilized. Apparently Alayna’s watching over him.”

“Then shouldn’t I go and see them?” said Lan.

“The adults and I talked” answered Byakko “and we decided that it wouldn’t be a good idea for you three to meet. Not after an event like that. It’s not because of you Lan” added Byakko when he noticed Lan’s crestfallen expression “it’s because, unlike you, kids your age aren’t as willing to forgive and forget when something bad happens to them. James is probably going to hate you for a long time, and it seemed that Alayna’s still pretty shaken and scared. So, we decided that the best thing for us to do would be to move on and continue our journey.”

Lan stood there staring blankly at his grandfather for a few moments then lowered his head.

“I…see” he said quietly. He swallowed a lump that was beginning to form and once again found himself on the verge of tears. “I guess I deserved that attack you gave me.”

“No no!” said Byakko, exasperatedly. He walked over to Lan, kneeled down and embraced the boy. “The reason I did that was to help you avoid all that pain. I know you’re hurting inside right now, but trust me when I say you’d have been hurting a lot more last night if I hadn’t done that.” Byakko pulled back, but his large hands remained on Lan’s tiny shoulders. “Things hurt a lot less after youse passed through the dream world. Trust me, I know from lots experience.”

“Okay” said Lan, tears beginning to form in his eyes. “Thanks grandpa…but could you ‘sniff’ leave me alone for a few minutes?” Lan was forcing himself not to break down, as not to make his grandpa worry “I’ll be fine but…I just need some time to think.”

“Sure” said Byakko “is what you thought I’d say right?”

Lan stared at his grandpa with wide, surprised eyes. 

“You think I’m just going to leave you all alone with your head full of these dark thoughts?” said Byakko staring him right in the eyes “Impure thoughts, sure why not? But dark depressed thoughts? Never!”

Byakko turned Lan around, pulled the boy to his chest, and sat down with his back to the wall. 

“To leave a child who has just been hurt as much as you have alone, is the same as giving them up to the darkness” said Byakko, setting Lan into his lap. “You think I’m going to let that happen to you?”

Lan looked up at him, tears streaming down his face.

“Let me tell you something boy. When a person is sad and broken, they may yell, scream, and give their all to force their friends and family away. But deep inside that’s not what they truly want…They want them to stay, they want them by their side. What they want is someone who is strong enough and willing to stay with them through no matter what kind of dark time they’re experiencing. Someone who they know can rely on with all their heart.” Byakko smiled down at Lan, whose lip was beginning to tremble “You know I’m telling the truth don’t you boy? And you better believe that this smelly old tiger’s going to stick with you no matter what. After all we’re family.”

Byakko’s words struck a chord deep in Lan’s heart. Slowly the dams that were holding back his pain within his heart collapsed, and he began to shake.

“I’m just going to stop talking now.” Said Byakko, sighing “Go on and cry boy. After all, this is your first heartbreak, and balling your eyes out after that is something I believe everyone’s entitled to.”

Lan stared up at his grandpa’s smiling face, his whole face red and trembling. Then, he buried his head into his grandpa’s scarred chest and began to cry. Byakko, his face kind and gentle, patted the young boy’s head. Wind blew in from the window near Lan’s bedside, bathing the two of them in its cool embrace. 

“Stay like this as long as you need to Lan” said Byakko, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. “Don’t worry; I’ll stay by your side as long as you need me.”  
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A few hours later Lan had ceased all crying and whimpering. Byakko had then taken the boy to the bathroom and given him warm bath followed by a cold shower. Lan had then dressed in a loose-fitting t-shirt and shorts and went downstairs with Byakko for some food. As soon as his foot touched the bottom of the steps, Ignis, who had been ordered by Byakko not to bother them until Lan came downstairs, had come bounding out of the living room and began running around and rubbing against Lan, obviously worried.

“It’s okay boy” said Lan patting Ignis on the head “I’m fine now.”

The three of them then went into the kitchen where a massive plate of cookies, a jug of milk, and a bowl of kibbles were waiting for them. 

The three of them plopped down at their respective seats, and each began to eat.

“Feeling better boy?” asked Byakko

“Yeah.” Said Lan nibbling a cookie. 

“You got to know that it wasn’t completely your fault” said Byakko, shoving a handful into his gaping maw. “I’d say it’s a lot due to bad luck. Alayna may have cried, but not because she hated you, but more cause you surprised her. If James hadn’t popped up just then, well things probably would have turned out a lot differently. So don’t blame yourself too much.”

“Mmmm” said Lan, biting into another cookie “But I guess I still better wait a while before I try my hand at love again.” His voice was heavily subdued, but was slowly gaining his normal vigor.

“Got to agree with you there.” Said Byakko “going to need to get some more life experience under your belt before you try stuff like that again, and I think you also have a lot to learn about from this experience.”

“Uh huh” said Lan.

“Now boy, I’ve got a lot to talk about with you, things I’ve been thinking on since last night, but I want to make sure all the gloom and doom is gone before I start. You completely calmed down? your heart finally heal up after its first breaking?”

“Don’t worry grandpa” said Lan smiling “You’ve raised me to be much stronger than that. Besides…I’m no stranger to pain; I’ll bounce back from this in no time.”

Byakko smiled and leaned back as the atmosphere around them lightened even further, in fact he relaxed so much that he immediately cracked off one of his trademark, class 7 ass-grenades.

Smiling and shaking his head, Lan hit a button near the sink which activated a fan that sucked the befouled air out of the room before anyone could suffer.

“Well, now that we’ve all calmed down” said Byakko, grabbing another handful of cookies “It’s time to evaluate on what went wrong.”

“Mmmm” said Lan, pouring himself a glass of milk. 

“From my analysis” said Byakko, surprising Lan by pulling out a huge stack of paper “You made 3 major mistakes. One! You went after a girl who already liked and had set up a relationship with someone. Two! You didn’t make sure that you were the first person she saw after you saved her.”

“But a deathstalker app—“

“I could have easily handled that alone!” said Byakko cutting him off. “Now stop interrupting. Where was I? Oh yeah. Three! After you had set up a good deal with the girl, you got too greedy and had to go for a kiss as well…Well I guess it’s also bad luck that James showed up just as Alayna was crying.”

At this point you could almost see the gloomy cloud that had formed over Lan’s head. Lan was also quite shaken by just how fast the mood had changed, but he didn’t say anything because for some reason, this new atmosphere was driving even more of his dark thoughts away. 

“But anyway” continued Byakko, “this has shown me that you still need much more knowledge on how to act in certain so-cietal situations. So, while you were asleep I have compiled a list of destinations and organizations that we will visit.” Byakko tapped the stack of papers at his side “Each of them will give you valuable experience on how the world works and will let you met many great people, many of them some of my old friends!”

As Byakko rambled on and on, Lan found himself slowly forgetting his troubles. He was once again being completely sucked into grandpa’s pace, just as he had been for his whole life and his mind was once again being filled with the confusion and incredulity that followed whenever Byakko explained one of his plans.

“Also” said Byakko “I have started to assemble kits to help you understand certain things. For example, this one” Byakko pulled a giant cardboard box with the word “booze” written on it in purple crayon “is in case you ever begin boozing!”

“Not likely” said Lan flatly.

“Yeah, I know” said Byakko tossing the box behind him “but you never know. Anyways I’ve already gotten started on your romance guide one, and have finished the one on haggling! Ahhhhhh, I love that word haaagle haggle haggle haggle.”

“Okay.” Said Lan chuckling “but uh…grandpa, do…you think we can leave the romance one for last. I…don’t think I’m ready yet.”

“Sure!” said Byakko “You’re too young anyway. I’ll give it to you when you’re 13!”

“Why thirteen?” asked Lan.

“Read one of them biology books you like so much” said Byakko, giving the boy a wink “You’ll find out why. But for now, I want to give you these.”

From seemingly out of nowhere, Byakko pulled a massive pile of manga, DVDs, and video games.

“For a kid like you who’s going to be on the road most of the time.” Said Byakko pushing the pile towards Lan, “These will be the best guides to help you learn about the basic workings of the world through the best medium kids can understand: over the top and action packed stories! And from what I can tell, some of them will also give you a small insight into how the whole love thing works. Plus, they’ll give you entertainment while on the road!”

Lan knew just how ridiculous this idea was, but he appreciated the thought that Byakko had put into gathering this all. Besides, some of them actually looked quite interesting.

“Thanks grandpa” said Lan, smiling and setting the pile aside, “I’ll look at them later.”

By this time Ignis had finished his kibbles and had plodded over and fallen asleep on Lan’s feet.

“So, where are we going now?” asked Lan, bending down to scratch Ignis’s ears.

“To set up a home base!” shouted Byakko “Can’t keep carrying home on our backs so to speak, with the kind of lifestyle we’ll be living it may get blown up with a bazooka or something.”

“Why?” asked Lan

“Tis the life of a wandering warrior” said Byakko, striking his poetic pose. “We never know what will befall us! Now let’s get going, we’ve wasted too much time anyways!” Byakko leapt to his feet, grabbed the plate cookies and dumped them all down his throat. 

The two of them then got up and headed out the front door. Lan was feeling quite a bit better now, albeit his spirit was still weak, and as he gazed out into the bright blue sky he felt calm spread over him. His first attempt at love had gone badly, that was true, but it was only a bump in the road on the great journey of his life. He’d have to think on this experience though, so as to never make such a mistake again, and with how long it would take to tramp down the road towards their new destination, he would have more than enough time to think about it. And so the two of them each hoisted up their respective burdens and began to walk down the road to their next destination, a little red pup running after their heels.

(If you want to keep the happy feelings you have now, skip to the second to last paragraph and read this next part later)

“Oh! I just remembered!” said Byakko, turning around “We haven’t done this for a while!”

Pain exploded around Lan’s nether regions and with a whimper he crumpled to the ground.

“Pain resistance training!” said Byakko.

“Why?” whimpered Lan.

“We can never stop improving ourselves no matter what!” shouted Byakko “that is what my master told me!”

“So you did this too?” squeaked Lan

“Nope.” Said Byakko “I was able to run away whenever he tried to hit me there. I didn’t want to take the damage…and on that note”

An evil smile crept across Byakko’s face as he pulled a pair of pliers out of his gi. 

“Now that I think about it, I’ve been kicking you in that area a lot recently” Byakko took three menacing steps toward Lan, who was gazing at the pliers with a horrified expression on his face. “We don’t want it to get to small now do we? Don’t you worry; grandpa knows plenty of ways to make it get bigger!”

“No I-I’m fine” said Lan, scooting away as fast as he could “M-my aura will counteract any damage right?”

“Bigger is better!” said Byakko, closing in.

“No, I uh think I’ll be fine the way I’ll be!” said Lan, who was now crawling away.

“Nonsense” said Byakko leaping into the air, casting a shadow over Lan’s horrified form “You’ll thank me for this when you get older!”

From far away a rabbit jumped as it heard a massive impact and then saw as a massive dust cloud rise into the air in the direction of the road, and a few seconds later it fled as an ear-splitting scream of pain filled the plains.

Little Root Epilogue: As a result of the heartbreak Lan received here, he lost all initiative to pursue romantic relationships himself, devoting that time instead to improving his various skills. Lan and Byakko would never return to Little Root since then, but would keep in contact with the villagers. They also later heard that Alayna and James had gotten engaged and planned to get married when they turned 21 (three years in the future from present time.) and having successfully put the past behind him at that point in time, Lan was able to honestly wish them a happy life together. 

Well everyone, that’s the end of Lan’s first romantic attempt as well as his first interaction with people after he left the village. I didn’t intend for it to be this long, but the detailed descriptions and metaphors eat up a lot of words. Do you guys think I should cut down on them? Anyway, we are less than 1/6 of the way done with the content I have currently planned (which means it will probably become even less in the future as I come up with more ideas). Also, I plan to put short epilogues after certain story arcs, do you guys think that’s a good idea? But anyway, for those who have read my story, thanks for your support and to help me make it even better, please write a review. Seeing just one more person saw that they like my story helps me get oh so more motivated.


	17. Chapter 17

Ch 17

“What are you reading Lan?” asked Byakko, leaning over to look at the book the boy was holding. 

“Ecology” answered Lan “I’m on the chapter about keystone species…Mmmhmm, grandpa, we’d better make sure not to eat any by accident.”

“Probably already have” said Byakko, biting into a large bovine haunch in his hands. Ignis was running around Byakko, hoping to catch any scraps that might fall.

The three of them had been traveling for 2 weeks since leaving Little Root. During this time they had covered an impossibly long distance despite the massive weight they carried with them, having travelled a little more than 1100 miles on foot. They had made quick stops in many small villages they encountered and helped travelers fight back bandits and Grimm on a few occasions, but they mostly had an uneventful trip. They were currently trekking up a tall mountain range mountain range dotted with pine trees. According to Byakko, they were finally close to reaching their destination. 

“It’s a nice little place I found many years ago” continued Byakko, tossing the now clean bone to a delighted Ignis “Its got natural hot springs, beautiful scenery, and ,most important of all, enough replenishing food to feed me without going through…what did you call it again?”

“Ecological collapse as a result of the overusing the natural wildlife.” Responded Lan, turning a page. 

“Yeah that.” Said Byakko, who was now picking his left nostril. “It’s going to be a great place to set up home base.”

“Isn’t home where the heart is though?” asked Lan.

“Now boy, I’ve told you a hundred times, a man has got to have one specific place with the same air, sky, and landscape that they can return to and rest their burdens after a long battle. I was originally going with Cunctantem Cinere, but it holds too many painful memories, so our home base must be a different. And luckily for you, my old home was available! It’s where I lived before I settled down in Cunctantem for a while.”

“Will we get there soon?” asked Lan.

“Well,” said Byakko, smiling “Come and see for yourself! The mountain peak is right there!” he pointed to the area, which wasn’t that far away. “Come on! Last one there eats whatever grew the bathtub!”

Lan and Byakko shot forward, zooming towards the top like bullets. Ignis however was more than happy to be left behind; after all, he liked the taste of bath fungus. It only took them a few moments to finally reach the top, and what spread out before them took Lan’s breath away. 

Spreading out before him was a valley filled with a lush forest, teeming with life. On the far side of the valley was a massive waterfall, which fell into a giant shimmering lagoon below. Directly in front of the lagoon was a massive tree towering high into the sky that was surrounded by a field of flowers that spread out until the line of trees began. Surrounding the entire valley was a tall mountain range which hid the valley from all except those who knew it was there. 

“Welcome” said Byakko, spreading out his arms “to Tiger Valley, discovered and of course named by yours truly.”

“Wow.” Said Lan taking in the vast scene that stretched out before him.

“You’ll be happy to know” said Byakko, “that this place is one of the few natural areas in the world that contains a 0% Grimm population due to the tough animals that live here, originally trained by me of course. They’re also the ones that should have maintained my house over the years.”

“How many years has it been since you came back here?” asked Lan

“Hmmm,” Byakko rubbed his chin “I’d say…around 20?”

“You sure they’re still taking care of everything?” asked Lan

“Oh I’m sure they are” said Byakko, scratching his nose “they know what’ll happen if I come back and the place isn’t in order. But just in case, I’ll summon the master of the forest to give us the status report.”

Byakko knelt down until the house touched the ground and then took his hands out of the metal straps. 

“Stand back boy” said Byakko, rising to his feet. “It’s time for my special animal call!”

Lan did just that as Byakko began to inhale very deeply. Air was sucked into his nose with the force of a vacuum cleaner and his belly swelled. Then Byakko quickly turned around, bent over, pointing his rear end in the directions of the valley, and grabbed both of his but cheeks. Then Byakko grunted and tightened his stomach muscles. A unique sound that was louder than but similar to a giant alphorn erupted from his rear end, filling the valley with its deep tone. Birds flew into the sky, startled by the sound and thousands of animals awoke, sending their cries into the air as well. Byakko’s special animal call lasted for a full minute before slowly fading away. 

“Ahhhh” sighed Byakko getting to his feet “Good thing I already got a hole in my pants from all my poots.”

Lan uncovered his ears and, once again, gave his grandfather an empty stare.

Ignoring him, Byakko shielded his eyes with his hand and began to search the forest. A few seconds later, he found his mark. 

“Look over there boy!” said Byakko, who both head locked Lan, who had tried unsuccessfully to avoid it, and pointed in the direction of something in the middle of the forest at the same time. 

Ignoring the horrible smell, Lan stared into a grove of trees and saw them shake. A loud squeal ripped across the tree tops as the shaking grew more violent. The area where the trees shook then began to move in Lan and Byakko’s direction. Whatever it was, it must have been quite large to make the trees shake like that. Lan tried to step back into a more defensible position, but his grandfather’s iron grip prevented him from moving even an inch from his position. It wasn’t long before the creature was upon them.

Bursting out of the tree line was a giant boar the size of a van, its body covered in black fur and war paint. It dashed up the slope to Lan and Byakko’s position, tearing down everything in its path as it neared them. Nearing the peak, it leapt into the air and then came down with a loud crash right in front of them. It stood there staring at the two of them for a few moments, then gave a loud snort and touched its nose to the ground as a gesture of submission. Byakko lifted his hand up and touched the boar on the forehead; there was a small glimmer of light at the point of contact.

“Hmmm, you’re not Calydonis” said Byakko, frowning “are you his little boy?”

The boar lifted its head, and gave a loud snort.

“I see.” Said Byakko, sighing and scratching his chin “Well, since you’re the king of the forest now, I guess your dad died while I was away huh?”

The boar grunted and squealed for a time, apparently it was explaining something because Byakko nodded and muttered “I see” every now and then.

“So a coup huh? Well, I guess survival of the fittest is the always the first thing on you guys’ minds.” said Byakko “Who led them?”

The boar grunted once.

“I guess that makes sense” said Byakko with a sigh, “They always hated me cause I ate so much meat. The only reason they didn’t go after me is because they knew I would have just killed them. It’s no surprise that those monkeys’d go after my representative if they thought I’d never be coming back. Where are they now?”

The boar pawed nervously at the ground and glanced to the side.

“Erymant.” Said Byakko threateningly, “Tell…me…now” Each word was relaxed yet threatening, and the giant boar seemed to cower in fear before them. Then, quietly, it made few snorts.

“What was that?” asked Byakko “Speak up!”

Erymant let out a pent up breath, and then snorted again, this time louder.

“What?” said Byakko slowly, his nose flaring “They’ve taken over my house?!”

The boar kneeled down and began squealing, obviously apologetic and scared.

“Oh cut that out” said Byakko, pulling the boar to its feet. “If Calydonis couldn’t have kept it from those apes, then there’s no way you could’ve.”

The boar buried its face into the mud again, obviously ashamed. 

“Well Lan” said Byakko turning back to the boy “It looks like we got some unwanted guests to clear out.”

“Alright” said Lan, dropping his bag.

“Alright!” Yelled Byakko, who leapt onto Erymant’s back. “Come Lan” he reached out his hand “Jump aboard the pig!”

Lan leapt forward, grabbed Byakko’s hand, and was pulled behind the old man.

“Yah” shouted Byakko, kicking Erymant’s sides “To my house!”

Erymant squealed and took off running at a brisk pace. Yelping, Ignis, who had just caught up, leapt forward and clamped down on the hairs of Erymant’s tail. The large boar didn’t even notice the young wolf hanging there and continued on. It dove off the cliff and barreled down the side of the hill until it finally crashed into the forest, sending debris and small animals flying in all directions. Lan stared around as the four of them barreled through the forest. The forest floor was dark thanks to the leaves of the large trees around them blocking most of the sunlight, only allowing small scattered patches of sunlight to leak through. However, life was still bursting from the seams of every corner of the forests. Everywhere you looked you could see thousands of different insects going about their business, dozens of small animals dashing across the moss covered earth, and many different varieties of plants that survived despite the limited sunlight. He heard a crunching sound from directly in front of him, and looked up at his grandpa.

“Want some?” asked Byakko, holding an orange fruit. 

Now that his eyes were growing more adjusted to the dimness, Lan finally noticed that there were long strands of vegetation coming from the upper reaches of the canopy, and almost all of them were completely laden with fruit.

“It’s like this year round.” Said Byakko, biting into a fruit that looked like a polka-dotted pumpkin “always plenty to eat.”

Smiling, Lan plucked a small purple fruit from a vine that whizzed by his face and popped it into his mouth. An extremely bitter and sour flavor exploded in his mouth, causing his mouth to pucker and his eyes to water.

“Oh yeah.” Said Byakko looking behind his shoulder as Lan forcefully swallowed the fruit “Some of them may not have ripened yet.”

A few minutes later the group burst through the tree line and found themselves running through the flower field leading up to the enormous tree in front of the waterfall. At that moment Erymant made a loud squeal.

“Lan!” shouted Byakko.

“Yeah?” answered Lan, who had just noticed Ignis and was in the process of helping the little wolf onto the boar’s back. 

“We’re in enemy territory now” said Byakko, “Prepare ranged assault.”

Lan nodded, reached into his gi, and pulled out a sling and pouch. “How much damage we need to deal?” asked Lan.

“Just use the small ones for now” said Byakko, who had somehow gathered a large pile of rocks in his hands “after all the enemy is only—“ Byakko’s ears perked up “Incoming!” he cried.

Suddenly, the air was filled with the whistle of flying objects, and flying out of the leaves of the giant tree was a menagerie of dark shapes. All of the projectiles were aimed at them.

“Shoot’em down!” yelled Byakko, who proceeded to throw the rocks in his arms at the dark shapes. Every dark shape that was hit was immediately pulverized and had its momentum neutralized, their remains falling to the ground in a dust storm. Lan reached into his pouch and pulled out one of his small explosives (now new and improved with a smaller size and bigger bang). He placed one of them into his sling, and then began to spin the sling in a circular motion. He picked out a portion of the volley that his grandpa was shooting at the least, and let the explosive fly at the central projectile. The explosive flew through the air as if it were a homerun baseball and collided with its target which caused an explosion that vaporized all others surrounding it. 

“Yes!” said Lan as he loaded another explosive into his sling. But his smile faded as a he saw one of the projectiles blast through the dust cloud and speed through the air towards them. Lan didn’t have time to build up the momentum necessary to throw the explosive and Byakko hadn’t, or was pretending not to have, noticed it. Seeing his chance for glory, Ignis leapt onto Lan’s head and growled as the projectile sped towards him. However, as the projectile got close Ignis began sniffing wildly, and his countenance of confrontation quickly turned into one of delight. Bending his legs, Ignis leapt into the air and caught the projectile in his mouth.

“Ignis!” cried Lan, shocked “What the heck?!”

Whatever Ignis had caught, the little wolf was happily chewing on it, his eyes closed in delight. Swallowing, Ignis landed on Lan’s shoulder and let out a belch into Lan’s face. Lan retched as the smell of Ignis’s breath hit him. He knew this smell. It was the smell that he had to deal whenever he had to look after Ignis, clean the bathroom, or take a dump. It was the scent of 100% pure feces, and Lan only knew of one animal that used feces as a projectile weapon.

“Grandpa!” yelled Lan, throwing another bomb at a group of flying poo. “Are we fighting—“

“Monkeys!” finished Byakko, who had just run out of rocks and was ironically using the surrounding flowers as projectiles. “and we’re off to do battle with their boss! Alright boy,” yelled Byakko, pointing at the tree “the projectiles are becoming less frequent. That mean the enemy is running out of ammo!” he shot Lan a humorous glance as he said this. “Now is out time to strike. Switch to non-explosives and prepare unload at the tree!”

Lan placed his pouch of explosives back into his gi and removed a pouch of lead balls. Byakko had already started unloading his floral barrage at the tree, and now that the four of them were getting closer, Lan could see small simian shapes in the trees, many of whom were falling out of the trees as flowers struck their faces. 

“What’s wrong!” yelled Byakko, obviously enjoying himself “You all allergic?”

As Byakko’s assault was quickly finishing off their attackers, the incoming brown missiles had become fewer in number and more dispersed, so Lan focused on shooting them all down. The few that managed to get passed were quickly…dealt with by Ignis. Within a few minutes the attack ended. From far in the distance, Lan could see the shapes of all the monkeys retreating. The few that remained in the trees swung down from the vines and the majority that had been knocked to ground level quickly limped away. Within a few minutes, they had all disappeared. 

“Victory!” yelled Byakko, raising both hands into the air. “We have seized Victory!”

“Mmmm” grunted Lan, who had gotten off Erymant and was holding Ignis in a headlock, brushing the struggling wolf pup’s teeth (with canine approved toothpaste of course –insert picture of a dog doing a thumb’s up-). 

“Now onwards!” shouted Byakko. “Onwards to the enemies’ domain!”

“Alright.” Said Lan, who was sitting on Ignis and flossing the whimpering dog’s teeth. “But can you give me a few minutes to finish damage control here?”

“Sure!” shouted Byakko, still holding his arms in the air.

After applying dog-friendly mouth-wash to Ignis’s mouth, and bathing the pup in the nearby lagoon (which consisted of throwing the Ignis in and doing battle with him with a brush and soap), Lan returned to Byakko with the now clean (and cranky) Ignis under his arms. Byakko was still sitting atop Erymant with his arms in the same position. 

“Ready!” said Lan, clambering back onto Erymant.

“Onward!” shouted Byakko once again. 

Erymant charged forward into a lagoon and began swimming. His pace in the water was significantly slower than on land, but he eventually transported the three to a large flat stone near the waterfall.

Byakko, Lan, and Ignis hopped off of Erymant and onto the stone. 

“Alrighty boy” said Byakko, folding his arms and looking up at the waterfall “we’re here!”

“Really?” asked Lan, he looked to the left, then the right. “Where’s the house?”

“Why the entrance is right in front of you boy?” said Byakko, spreading his arms wide.

“Wait.” Said Lan, who instantly realized what his grandfather meant “you don’t mean…”

“Yep!” shouted Byakko, “It’s behind the waterfall!”

Lan stared at the towering wall of water before him that shimmered with the rainbows formed from its spray, which I might add had already soaked the boy’s clothes. 

“How do we get in?” asked Lan.

“Like how I get through every locked door.” Said Byakko, who put his right foot in front, his left foot in the back, bent his knees, pulled his right fist to his waist, and held his left hand out in front of him. “By breaking right through!”

“Wow, your dad must have been strong to have been able to do that Erymant” said Lan to the giant boar.

“Oh, no no” said Byakko, “Only one in this valley strong enough to do this is me.”

“Then how did the animals get inside and maintain your house?” asked Lan.

“There’s a special service entrance at the top of the cliff” said Byakko, motioning up there with his head.

“Why don’t we just use that then?” asked Lan 

“Because this is a lot more fun!” shouted Byakko.

Byakko threw his punch forward at that moment. The force of his fist shot forward and expanded, blasting a 20 meter large hole in the middle of the water.

Before he could say anything, Lan, as well as Ignis and Erymant, were grabbed by Byakko and thrown through the hole. Byakko quickly followed by leaping from the stone. Lan, Ignis, and Erymant crashed into the ground with a large thump, and skidded on their bellies until they eventually came to a halt. Byakko landed on his feet right in front of them. 

“Wake up boy.” Said Byakko, giving Lan a kick “we’re here.”

Rubbing his bruised nose, Lan slowly pushed himself and got to his feet. He looked forward, about to voice his displeasure about being thrown, but the scene in front of him forced the words back down his throat. The group was standing in a massive cavern filled with giant glowing dust deposits that jutted out of the stone walls at odd angles. But that wasn’t what impressed Lan the most. In the ceiling, there was a massive hole letting in sunlight and beneath that was an enormous Japanese style palace built from white marble, black granite, and bamboo that shone as brightly as polished gold. Surrounding the palace, fed by the sunlight, was a garden with a variety of fruit trees. The landing they were standing on was very wet due to its close proximity to the waterfall, but things quickly dried out further inn thanks to the sunlight’s warming the black stone that the cavern was made of.

“Welcome” said Byakko, spreading out his arms “to your new home.”

“Wow” said Lan, taking in all the sights that surrounded him, entranced by what could have been described as a whole new world. Ignis was also admiring the surrounding scenery, twisting his head this way and that to take in the new area…and then quickly marked new territory on the nearest dust crystal, unluckily for him, the crystal he urinated on was lightning element and I think we all know how that turned out. Ignoring the unconscious, smoking wolf, Erymant got to his feet and pawed the ground. 

“You stay here Erymant” said Byakko, holding out his arm to prevent the boar from charging forward. “I know you’re anxious to see some action, but you’d wreck the place.”

Erymant gave a squeal of protest, but was cowed by a single glare from Byakko. 

“Lan!” shouted Byakko.

“Yeah?” answered Lan, who had returned Ignis to consciousness by waving a liver treat above the little wolf’s nose. 

“Time to rock.” 

Lan nodded his head and walked forward to stand beside his grandfather. Ignis did the same, but instead stood beside Lan. 

“March.” Commanded Byakko, pointing forward with his pointer and middle finger. 

The three of them walked forward and quickly covered the ground leading up to the edge of the garden. Suddenly, leaping from the many fruit trees and pouring out of the front gate, came dozens of monkeys the size of grown men. Each of them held thick tree branches in their hand. They assembled an organized front on the stone path leading up to the castle gate and standing at the front was a monkey wearing a black samurai helmet and holding a spear.

“Ooh Ooh Ahh Ahh” it shouted, pointing its spear at the waterfall. It then let out a loud screech and pointed at the castle.

“Hoh?” said Byakko, raising an eyebrow.

“What did it say?” asked Lan.

“It said to leave immediately and that my house is theirs now” replied Byakko.

How Byakko was able to understand them, Lan didn’t know. Lan was able to communicate effectively with Ignis thanks to Ignis’s aura and being with the little wolf for so long, but he had no idea how to interpret the screeches of the monkeys. 

“Plan 6!” shouted Byakko.

“Got it!” shouted Lan. 

Lan reached into his gi pulled out the pouch and threw it full force at the monkeys. Believing it to be an explosive, the monkeys in its path scattered, running to take cover behind the various foliage in the gardens. However instead of detonating the bag just landed with a soft plop. Taking advantage of the gap created in the monkey’s defense, the three dashed through and headed towards the castle. 

Enraged, the monkeys streamed back onto the path. Lan watched them from the corner of his eye until he was sure that every one of them had stepped back onto the stone path.

“Halt!” shouted Lan, whipping around and holding out his hand.

Confused, the monkeys did just that.

“Thank you.” Said Lan. 

A small black cylinder with a red button on the top slipped out of his sleeve and into his hand. 

“And sorry” said Lan, pressing the button.

With a two loud bangs, the pouch that Lan had threw, which was now in the center of the monkey’s formation, exploded and dispersed a cloud of red dust. The monkeys screamed as the dust washed over them. 

“I hope I didn’t add too many chili peppers” said Lan, who watched as the monkey’s formation fell into chaos. 

“Aww, poor monkeys.” Said Byakko, walking forward “I heard the pain goes away if you wash it off though.” Byakko knelt down and stabbed his fingers into the stone path. “Here, let me help you!” 

With a loud cracking noise, Byakko ripped the stone slab that all the monkeys were standing on out of the ground. Realizing they were in danger, the monkeys on the slab that were still able to sense their surroundings tried to leap off the slab. However they found they couldn’t move their feet. Looking down, they found their feet trapped in sticky orange goo.

“Sorry!” shouted Lan, “I added some custom rubber cement as insurance, but don’t worry, it dissolves in water.”

Giving a tremendous yell, Byakko threw the slab in the direction of the waterfall. The monkeys screamed as they flew through the air, fearing for their very lives. The sounds echoed through the cavern until the stone slab smashed through the waterfall and the monkeys disappeared from sight.

“Nice mixture you had there Lan” said Byakko, patting the boy on the back. “Made sure we could get rid of them without harming my precious fruit trees.”

“I am always improving my skills” said Lan, his voice filled with pride.

“Well, let’s go in before the little guy pees all over my yard.” said Byakko, grabbing Ignis who had been sniffing a tree.

The front gates of the palace were still open so the three of them simply walked through, and when they entered Byakko gave sigh. The monkeys had seriously done a number on Byakko’s old home. Giant pelts were scattered all over the floor and were stained with food as well as a number of other substances, many stone statues lay in pieces on the ground, rotting organic refuse was scattered as far as the eye could see, and numerous previously valuable objects lay broken. Still, even with the mess lying in front of him, Lan could see that the hall was impressive with its smooth stone walls lined with carved table (which were of course scratched), beautifully decorated ceiling paintings, and brightly colored carpet.

“Darn monkeys.” Said Byakko, kicking aside a rotting melon peel, “I’m supposed to be the only one that messes this place up.”

Ignoring Lan’s quizzical expression, Byakko strode forward and headed for a door at the end of the hall. The sounds of hundreds of screeching monkeys could be heard from right behind it. Arriving at the door Byakko, with Lan and Ignis hot on his heels, raised his foot and gave them a good kick. The door flew open.

Inside was an enormous room with a tall ceiling supported by numerous stone pillars. The room was lit up by sunlight that poured in from a circular opening at the top of the room. On each of the four walls were multiple doors leading further into the building and many mounted pieces of weaponry. 

Scattered throughout the room were hundreds upon hundreds of monkeys that were running around, swinging from the ceiling decorations, eating food, and doing what monkeys do. Lan was surprised however to see that many of them were drinking from large jars of wine, decorated with white tiger drawings.

“Awww” said Byakko, chuckling “Their drinking my liquor. Well, at least they didn’t manage to get into the best stuff yet. I locked those up in my cellar.”

Sitting at the end of the room on what appeared to be a bamboo throne was a giant black monkey that was as large as two men. It was currently chugging from a giant black jar. Then, with a loud belch, set it the jar onto the ground.

“That must be the current king of the forest” said Byakko, pointing at it. “He looks pretty tough, can see why Calydonis lost. Well, time to end his fun.”

Byakko walked forward towards the thrown, scattering the monkeys that were in his path.

“Alright.” Shouting Byakko, clapping his hands “Party’s over, the true king’s back and I’m going to need my house back.”

The black monkey looked at him and growled, it then leapt off the thrown and charged towards Byakko, stopping right in front of him. 

It stared into Byakko’s smiling face and growled. It then began to ‘Ooh’ and “Aah”. 

“Ohhh, a tough guy huh?” said Byakko, smiling.

“Grandpa” whined Lan, “This has been bugging me for a while, but I can’t understand what any of the animals are saying, it makes it really hard to follow the conversation.”

“Okay, Okay” said Byakko, turning his back on the now offended monkey “I’ll help.”

Byakko touched Lan on the forehead with his finger and there was a flash of white light. Lan stumbled backward and rubbed his forehead. 

“Ouch!” said Lan, “What was that for.”

“I would like to know as well.” growled a deep voice. 

Lan felt a something like a voice talk into his head, the words were spoken in his language, but at the same time it didn’t feel human. He then realized that the one that had spoken was the black monkey in front of him. 

“What did you do?” asked Lan

“I gave you an aura infusion that lets you use my aura speak ability” said Byakko “It’s a secret special aura technique only known by a few masters that allows you to communicate directly with a creature’s soul, so you won’t be able to understand exactly what they’re saying but you can get the meaning behind it. So, no matter what language it uses, as long as it’s got a soul, you can communicate with it. I learned it from an old friend of mine.”

“But I did hear him speak though.” Said Lan.

“If the one you’re talking to has strong enough aura and is smart enough, like this monkey here, then it sounds like they’re speaking” said Byakko, “buts it’s really all in your head.”

“Then how did you understand what all the other monkeys said?” asked Lan. “They didn’t have any strong aura.”

“I know the language.” Said Byakko, flatly.

“Oh.” Said Lan, “well, I guess it’s still pretty cool that I’ll be able to understand all animals from now on.”

“Yeah, for now” said Byakko, “but the infusion will wear off in a little while so you’ll stop understanding after a bit. You’ll have to learn the technique yourself if you want the effect to be permanent.”

“Oh” said Lan “But this is still pretty cool!”

“I know right?” said Byakko.

“You know any other cool aura techniques like this?” asked Lan.

“A few, but not many” replied Byakko “The vast majority of mine are physical combat ba—“

“Hey!” shouted the giant black money “Stop ignoring me!”

Lan and Byakko turned back to the now seething monkey.

“I, Kong, king of this forest will not be insulted like this!”

“Well kingey, I’m afraid you’ve got to clear out now” said Byakko “I’m taking my house back.”

“Oh?” said the monkey, chuckling “and what makes you think you can?” 

Byakko raised an eyebrow and smirked. 

“Do you know who I am boy?”

“Yes” said Kong “the ancient ruler of this land that disappeared twenty years ago.”

“Then why are you still here?” said Byakko.

“Because I will no longer stand for having my life ruled by your memory.” Shouted Kong “I remember when you still lived here, back when I was a child. You devoured hundreds of animals to satiate your vast appetite.”

“That’s horrible.” Said Lan.

“Quiet boy” yelled Kong “I’m not saying it as a bad thing. Our lives are a constant eat or be eaten existence where we must either eat and live or be eaten and die. Survival of the fittest is the iron clad rule here. What angered me is that the leaders of my tribe never fought back, they bragged about being strong every day but were as frightened babes whenever you were mentioned, even years after you had departed. They never even dared to take the land and resources that were so ripe for the picking. So, ten years ago I killed them all, became the leader of the monkeys, and conquered your empty halls for my own.” Kong finished this phrase with a simian screech.

“So what you’re saying is?” said Byakko, cleaning his right ear.

“If you want your home back. Then take it!” Kong roared into Byakko’s face as he said this, sending spittle flying into the old man’s face.

“Alright.” Said Byakko, shrugging his shoulders “Sounds fair. But y’know, it’s not going to be fair if I fight you. I’d crush you like a wet sponge.” Kong growled. “Tell you what, if you can beat my young ward over there, then we’ll graciously leave.”

“Huh?” said Lan, a blank expression on his face.

“What kind of insult is this?” growled Kong, “Me against this little weakling?”

“Hey!” shouted Lan.

“Do you take me for a fool?” Continued Kong

“What’s wrong monkey breath?” said Byakko, with a brilliant smile on his face “You scared?”

“Me? SCARED?” shouted Kong, he screeched and began pounding the ground. After he finished his little outburst, he turned back to Byakko, who was still smiling. 

“Very well you worm” he said growled “I’ll rip apart your brood if that’s what you want. But you won’t be leaving here after that. Oh no, after I’m finished with him I will show you my strength by tearing you to pieces!”

Once again Kong roared at the top of his lungs in Byakko’s face. Byakko wiped a drop of spittle off his cheek with his thumb and frowned.

“Not forgiving, the second time” said Byakko.

Byakko pulled back his head, took a deep breath, then let out a thunderous roar. It was at least a hundred times louder than Kong’s was and set the whole room shaking. Hundreds of monkeys ran out of the room in fright. Overwhelmed by the sound Lan covered his ears to try and block some of it out, kneeling down and closing his eyes from the pain. Ignis had dropped onto his belly and was covering his ears with his paws. 

The roar ended as suddenly as it started. His ears still ringing, Lan slowly opened his eyes and found that the room was almost empty. The only ones who remained were his group and Kong, who had retreated several meters.

“Don’t make a mistake you shit-throwing scumbag.” Said Byakko, his voice dangerously mellow “What I’m offering you is a better chance for survival. Had I been alone, I wouldn’t have made this offer and would have already beaten you to a bloody pulp and chucked you down the waterfall.”

Kong didn’t make a sound, but just stayed there, rooted in place and staring into Byakko’s powerful eyes. There’s two things that an animal must have above all else in order to survive, more important that strength, speed, or any natural defenses. They are instinct and sensitivity. Without these, a creature would never be able to sense impending danger before it is too late. For even the greatest of beasts cannot stand against a natural disaster or starvation. Kong, having survived many years in the harsh surroundings of nature, had extremely good instincts, and as a result was able to sense the dangerous aura that Byakko now gave off. What Kong felt as he stood before Byakko, was that he was being stared down by an immense predator that he could not hope to defeat.

“So are you going to accept the challenge?” asked Byakko calmly.

Kong stared at him intently and then slowly answered:

“Do I have your word that you will leave peacefully, no matter what injuries I inflict on the boy?”

“You have it.” Said Byakko

“Then I accept.” Said Kong nodding his head. 

“Wa-Wait, grandpa.” Said Lan, pulling his grandpa aside. “Are you sure I can handle this?”

“Not really” said Byakko, picking his nose and staring into space. “But it’ll give you experience.”

“But grandpa” said Lan, grabbing Byakko’s other hand “I’m not sure I can handle—“

“GO!” shouted Byakko, interrupting Lan. He then tightened his grip around Lan’s hand;, with Lan trying desperately to get free as always,; lifted Lan above his head; and threw the boy straight at Kong.

Taken completely off guard, Kong was head butted in the face by the flying Lan and stumbled backwards from the impact as Lan crashed to the ground.

“Ready!” shouted Byakko, who had somehow pulled out a chair and a 3 gallon bucket of popcorn. “Fight!”

Leaping to his feet, and knowing full well that there was no way out of this, Lan charged forward at Kong, determined to give his best regardless of the situation. Kong pulled back his right arm and threw a palm at Lan. Anticipating this, Lan leapt onto his backside and skidded, right leg forward, underneath Kong’s palm and between his legs. Lan looked up, saw his target, and sprang upward with his right hand balled into a fist.

‘Wham’

What felt like a pole smacked him straight in the face, and sent him 3 meters back. Quickly recovering midair, Lan landed on his feet and turned back to his opponent, a little bit of blood dribbling from his nose. 

“Careful of the tail” said Byakko through a mouthful of popcorn “It’s really fast.”

Lan nodded, his eyes fixed on his new foe. Judging from the rippling muscular frame that the large monkey possessed, attacking it normally would achieve limited results. His best bet would be attacking the areas that were surrounded by only a soft, thin layer of tissue. So the main targets he decided on were the head, neck, and groin. Lan charged forward once again, this time keeping his eyes on the tail as well. Kong however, was not just going to let the boy just charge him again. With a roar, he charged forward, much faster than Lan believed him capable of. Taken by surprise, Lan barely had enough time to put his guard up before being tackled by the Large monkey. Lan was sent flying and slammed into a pillar. Luckily Lan had accidently relaxed his whole body right before the impact, dispersing most of the shockwave. Lan had still taken damage however and struggled to his feet. 

Kong charged forward once again, both of his fists raised above his head. Lan quickly darted to the side, avoiding the blow which smashed the ground where he had been standing. He then leapt forward onto Kong’s arms, jumped upwards, and threw a kick which connected with Kong’s jaw. It was a good target which when hit spins the brain. However, Kong’s powerful neck muscles were more than capable of absorbing all the force from Lan’s blow. Lan’s strike pushed Kong’s jaw a centimeter or two, but it quickly snapped back into position, repelling the blow and forcing Lan to quickly leap away and create more distance between the two before Kong could launch a counterattack. 

The moment his feet touched the ground, Lan rocketed forward towards Kong, who was now turning to face the boy. Lan was in his guard before he had time to react, and the boy quickly leapt upwards and landed a strong kick on Kong’s temple. This shock caused Kong to stagger a bit, shocking his brain slightly, but the monkey quickly counterattacked by swinging his arm horizontally. Lan however had already ducked and had quickly entered between Kong’s legs. Twisting his whole body to give extra power, Lan threw an uppercut up at Kong’s groin. As the heavy blow struck, Kong’s face contorted in pain, but the monkey still stood firm and quickly struck Lan in the face with his tail.

“The guy’s got defensive aura!” shouted Byakko “Attacks that would normally bring down an animal his size won’t work!”

Temporarily blinded, Lan staggered back, clutching his face. When he removed his hands, he discovered that Kong was gone. He quickly looked to his sides and behind himself, but was unable to locate Kong. Quickly realizing where the monkey had gone, Lan looked upwards at the pillars, but it was too late. Swinging down from one of the pillars, Kong slammed Lan with both of his large feet. Taking the massive blow head on depleted most of Lan’s defensive aura and sent him flying across the room and crashing into one of the walls, knocking down the nearby weapon on display.

Kong let out a simian shriek of triumph as Lan fell to the floor. Groaning, Lan slowly pushed himself back up. It was obvious that Kong was a superior to Lan in terms of raw physical ability. Lan knew there was no way he could win if things continued as is. As Lan stared down at his hands, which were pressed against the ground, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. It was the weapon that had been knocked down. It was a pair of tonfa, made out of polished black wood. Lan had no experience using that weapon, in fact using it may have ended up hindering him instead due to the time it would take to figure out how to use it properly. But at present time he believed that he had nothing to lose, after all none of his normal tactics were working. Reaching out with a trembling hand, Lan grabbed one of the handles. 

Suddenly, something within him stirred. The remnant of the spirit within him knew what Lan currently held within his hands, had used it before in a time long forgotten, and as the sensation of Lan touching the wood pulsed through the boy’s soul, the spirit released its own in response to that familiar feeling, releasing some of its memories from long ago. 

Lan felt a sudden familiarity fill him as he tightened his grip on the handle and grabbed the other. Visions flashed through his head of a man with a bandana and gakuran that was wielding the tonfa with expert skill, striking down all the enemies that came near him with precision and grace. 

Once the vision passed, Lan suddenly realized that he knew what to do with the weapon that he had in his hands. He was no master, far from it his ability was that of an initiate at best, the vision had only given him a few inklings on how to best use the weapon. However, he knew that there were significant advantages in using weaponry. The weapons would not only increase his reach and attack options, but also the amount of strength he could put into a blow without hurting or overexerting himself. 

Slowly rising to his feet, Lan grasped both tonfa tightly in his hands and lifted his gaze to stare at Kong who was now eyeing the boy suspiciously. Slamming his foot into the ground, Lan blasted forward at a tremendous speed, completely taking Kong by surprise. Lan felt that he was faster and stronger now, he didn’t know why, but it felt as though at that very moment that something within him was resonating with his very soul, boosting his power tremendously. 

As he saw Lan quickly nearing him, Kong raised both his fists and brought them down onto where Lan would be. With a lightning fast movement, Lan brought up both his tonfa and struck Kong in the wrists with their tips. The attack struck right in the joint separating hand and lower arm and with the combined force of Lan’s strikes and Kong’s attack, the monkey’s wrist was nearly dislocated. Kong pulled back his arms in pain, and in that moment Lan entered into his guard, pulled back both of his arms, enhanced them with aura, and slammed the tips of the tonfa into Kong’s iron-like abs. The force of the blow made Kong’s body hunch over and caused him to expel a spray of bile from his mouth. However, the collision with Kong’s powerful muscles also caused the tonfa to completely shatter.

“Those things were old anyway.” Said Byakko, taking a sip from what appeared to be a giant soda cup. 

Kong staggered backwards, clutching his stomach. Lan quickly increased the distance between the two of them to avoid the risk of taking one more of Kong’s attacks, he didn’t have the aura to take one more. Lan suddenly found that he had become more exhausted. The moment the tonfa shattered the strange resonance that he had felt within his being had disappeared and the toll of his exertions had rushed back to him. But he knew one thing now. He didn’t know why, but using weapons increased his physical and combat ability immensely. Looking around, Lan spotted the nearest weapon mounted on the wall and rushed towards it. Jumping upwards, Lan seized the weapon from where it was laid and turned again to face Kong, who had already gathered his composure. This time Lan was holding a pair of long nunchaku made of grainy white wood with metal caps on the end, and once again the strange feeling of familiarity and power washed over him. This time he saw the brief vision of a karate-ka wielding the weapon against multiple foes.

Roaring, Kong leaped upwards and began swinging from the pillars, flitting through the air with increasing speed until he was but a blur that was heading closer and closer to Lan. Lan grabbed the top stick of the nunchaku with his right hand, the bottom with his left hand, and braced the chain across his back. With a screech, Kong descended on Lan, moving so fast that there seemed to be multiple monkeys descending on the boy. Remembering the movements of the karate-ka that he had just saw in his mind, Lan whipped out the nunchaku and began swinging it through the air in a sphere around him. The blurs vanished as soon as they hit the wall formed by Lan’s nunchaku and Kong’s solid form appeared. Some of his fingers broke from when he had stuck out his hand to try to grab the boy and there were multiple bruises forming all over his body as Lan’s nunchaku struck him again and again. Then with a loud crack, the nunchaku shattered as well. 

Kong leapt away and as his feet touched the floor he collapsed onto his knees. He let his body go slack to try to recover if only a little from the fierce blows he had just taken. Lan also collapsed onto his knees, but not from damage. The high speed nunchaku move that he had just used was far too advanced for someone of his skill level to have used, and as a result he had immensely drained his stamina. He desperately wanted to rest, but he knew the fight was far from over. If he gave Kong enough time to recover, he would without a doubt lose. But with the amount of stamina using each of these weapons cost him, he would only be able to use one more. He noticed one more weapon decoration out of the corner of his eye and slowly lurched towards it. Seeing this, Kong picked up a nearby stone and threw it at Lan. However, due to his broken fingers, his aim was off and the stone ironically ended up knocking the weapon off the rack and into Lan’s outstretched hands. This was the final weapon and would determine Lan’s victory or defeat in this struggle. It was an iron Bo staff with the painting of a white tiger on the side.

“Oh, that’s one of my favorites” said Byakko, “Try not to break it boy.”

Ignoring him, Lan turned around to face Kong who was standing his ground, a defiant look on his face. This time the vision of a bald monk flashed through Lan’s mind as he felt the resonant strength return to him with a vengeance, flooding him with greater intensity than it had before. Spinning the staff in the air, Lan let out a war-cry and then charged forward, holding the tip of the staff in front of him and cracking the ground every time his feet touched the ground. Sensing the magnitude of the coming attack, Kong attempted to leap out of the way but found his legs unresponsive. Seeing that the only option he had left was left was to block, Kong put up both of his arms parallel to his face, hunkered down, and hardened his aura into a defensive barrier in front of him. With a thundering crash, the tip of Lan’s bo staff collided against Kong’s barrier. The two opposing energies clashed, creating a shower of blue and black sparks where the two energies collided. Despite his newfound strength, Lan found himself slowly being pushed back. Although using the staff had given him an advantage in terms of reach and versatility, his basic physical strength was still inferior to Kong’s, even with the boost he was receiving from the resonance, and the current battle was a sheer contest of power. Yet, even as he was now staring defeat in the face, Lan’s eyes never lost their fire. He kept pushing and pushing, forcing out more and more of his aura and strength from places he didn’t even know that he had. These feelings which flooded Lan’s soul magnified the synergy he had with the remnant of the spirit. The spirit recalled memories from times long past of the many people it once inhabited exhibiting the same emotions as they desperately fought for what they believed in. Out of all the thousands of joys and experiences it had it felt, it was this glowing beacon of emotion that it believed to be one of the most beautiful. Albeit, the boy was still young and his reason for fighting in this battle not as meaningful as others. But although it was weak, it was still the same powerful determination that had led many heroes to shake the world. 

The spirit began to vibrate, releasing pulse after pulse of energy in response to the boy’s determination, each pulse deepening the resonance that the two had formed. In the physical plane, this was viewed as Lan’s body and staff gaining a glowing blue hue that slowly increased in intensity. The blue light from where his staff made contact began to grow brighter, slowly outshining the glow of Kong’s black barrier. Cracks began to form in the wall as Lan began to gain more ground. This time, it was Kong’s turn to slide along the floor as Lan became the superior force of the two. Kong gasped and grunted as his aura was slowly depleted. Then with a loud crash, Lan’s staff smashed right through Kong’s barrier and crashed into Kong’s guard. Lan then twisted his body and thrust the staff forward, blowing Kong’s arms away and burying the tip into Kong’s solar plexus. The combined power of the forward thrust, the spiral motion, and the remaining energy left from the moment of spiritual resonance smashed through the last remnants of the aura that was protecting Kong and pulverized the muscle that attempted to mitigate damage from the blow. The energy traveled inside Kong’s body and caused damage to many of his internal organs before blasting him in a straight line straight backwards through several columns and into the wall where he formed a large crater. Then, with his eyeballs rolled back into his skull, Kong collapsed into a heap on the ground.

Lan was leaning on the staff and breathing heavily, blood was dripping from his body where some of his muscles had torn. The strength he had used had been too much for his young body to use, and he was now being hit by the recoil and exhaustion. But despite the pain that wracked his body, he smiled. He had pushed himself to the limit in the battle against this powerful foe and come out victorious. He felt proud, joyful, and full of accomplishment.

“Good job boy.” Said Byakko, who was now standing behind Lan.

Lan looked up at his grandpa, his right eye half closed and a weak smile plastered on his battered face. 

“Weapons…good.” He said, smiling.

“Yep, guess they complement your fighting style, we’ll have to get you some won’t we?” said Byakko.

Lan nodded, smiling, then his eyes rolled upwards and he collapsed onto the ground. 

Byakko smiled at the boy’s supine form, then walked passed him and towards Kong. Stopping in front of him, Byakko gave the monkey a light kick.

“I know you’re still awake big guy” said Byakko. “Come on. Say something.”

Kong grunted and slowly raised his head.

“It seems your grandchild is the victor” said Kong, spitting out blood. “and I guess you’ll be making a meal of me now, as is proper.”

Byakko sighed and knelt down.

“I don’t really feel like it” at these words Kong growled.

“Stop making a fool out of me and just end it!” he spat “You are the winner, and as per the laws of nature you shall be the one to eat while I will be the one to die.”

“Kong” said Byakko, “You are strong and intelligent enough to separate yourself from the laws of that cruel world, just as we humans and Faunus have. Yet you continue to follow to follow that path even though you know that just one little slip up could lead to you losing everything. Instead of coming here to take the empty halls of my home, you could have led your people to a better place. You could have learned and taught your people how to farm, could have built a stable civilization for yourselves that could have lasted for generations far from those who would do you harm. But you chose this path, following the strong-eat the weak principles that were hammered into you by those elders you hated so much. Why?”

Kong chuckled.

“True, I could have done those things. Led my people to a golden age, just as the ancient leaders your people did…but along the way, your kind has lost something that can longer be recovered…It is hard to explain, the sense of oneness and piece one gains from living by the laws of nature, the sense of pride one gains from surviving, and the innocence of simply trying to live your lives.” Kong coughed once more, sending out a splatter of blood. “Since humans and Faunus established their civilizations and separated themselves from nature, they have lost these things and though they have gained the power to advance and erect massive monuments of their success, they have also gained a blackness of heart that we who follow the way of nature could never hope to fathom. They gained greed, envy, and a lack of concern for their own kind. You call the world I live in cruel, yet many of your kind kill each other not to improve their chances of survival, but simply for amusement and minor boons. True, we animals kill each other from time to time, but we do so for the sake of survival, not for the trivial reasons that many of your kind do…I have pride in the way that I live now, a pride that I would never throw away no matter what. The same pride that I’m sure that many of your kind possesses in the way they live their lives. Do you believe your way to be so superior to mine that you would take away that which I value more than my life?”

“I see your point” said Byakko nodding, “Just as I saw the point of many other enlightened animals that I encountered, but still Kong, although we have gained unimaginable darkness, we have also gained unimaginable light. Sure, we have separated ourselves from nature, but at the same time we have become a part of another greater thing, achieved a sense of oneness comparable to that of your oneness with nature. Sure there are tons of bad eggs in our lot who tend to blacken the souls of those around them, but there are also many of us who put ourselves in harm’s way so that others can live their lives just a little better. I’m not saying that my way of life is better than yours. What I’m saying is that you’ve never experienced my way of life, and I think it’s a little too soon to make a decision without getting a little taste of both first.”

“What do you mean?” asked Kong.

“What I’m saying is that you may want to give the whole civilization thing a try.” Said Byakko “After all, I’ve tried out the whole survival of the fittest nature thing for about 10 years of my life and its only after reaching a complete understanding of it did I decide on which way of life I wanted to follow. I found I liked a bit of both, so that’s how I live my life.” Byakko took a deep breath and let out a satisfied sigh “Everyone has a way of life that is most suited to them, and only after experiencing many different ones can beings truly say that one way of life is better for them. There were many people I knew who forsake our civilized lives for that oneness with nature, but only after they had experienced many other ways of life. So I think you might want to do what they did.”

“So what are you suggesting?” asked Kong.

“What do you say that we divide the valley into two parts for now.” Said Byakko “One half will be left in control of Lan and myself, and the other will be left to you and your supporters. The boy and I will work on getting a nice civilization established on our half and you can keep your side in the whole survival of the fittest thing. Once we finish up, come over and live one our half of the valley for a little while. After that if you still prefer your way of life, you and the boy can have another duel, and we can go from there.”

Kong considered this for a moment, and then looked up at Byakko.

“And you will be leading the developments?” he asked. 

“Oh no no no,” said Byakko, waiving off the notion. “You leave the organization to me, and everything’s going to go to hell.” Byakko pointed at Lan’s unconscious form “I’m leaving it to the little guy. He’s much better at this kind thing then I am. Besides, this kind of ending is exactly what he would want.”

“You planned this for his sake didn’t you?” said Kong

“Mostly” answered Byakko.

“And I will most likely grow stronger during that time. The boy may lose our next confrontation, is that all right with you?”

“You know it” said Byakko.

“Hmph, very well” said Kong “I’ll agree to this for now.”

“Yeah, find out which life you like more” said Byakko. “and just to be honest between the two of us. Lan’s the guy who thought this plan up, it was that time he was reading all those philosophy books along with stuff on animal intelligence. It was just in case he met any smart animals like Ernest and Ignis. You know we had a wolf pack like that back at our village, they decided to live the survival of the fittest kind of life, but we all still get along and—“

“White beast” interrupted Kong.

“Yes~~” said Byakko.

“Please cease your rambling. I already get the full picture and I am in need of rest.”

“All right” said Byakko, walking away “sweet dreams. Do you need any treatment?”

“I will be fine” answered Kong. “I have received even graver injuries in the past and was easily able to cope with them.”

Byakko nodded then walked to Lan, picked him up, and brought him out of the room, leaving Kong snoring on the ground in the entrance chamber. The two of them headed upstairs towards one of the undefiled bedchambers where Byakko tucked Lan in bed, treated the boy’s injuries, and took a seat by the window to watch the setting sun signal the end of the day.


	18. Chapter 18

Ch 18

Lan groaned. His body ached all over. Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked around. He was currently lying in a large luxurious looking bed with a large purple blanket and giant fluffy pillows in the middle of a spacious and fully furnished room the likes of which one would expect to find in a royal palace. To the wall on his left there was a large open window with bamboo shutters that was letting in fresh morning air and to his left was a carved oak door. At first he thought he was completely alone, but then he noticed a red bundle at the foot of his bed. The little wolf pup was snoozing belly up with his tongue lolling out of his mouth, when suddenly he started whimpering and flailing his legs in the air, as if he was running from something. Lan smiled and sat up, ignoring his aching muscles.

“There there boy.” Said Lan, petting the little wolf “It’s only a dream.”

At the touch of Lan’s hand, Ignis’s body relaxed and the little wolf opened his eye slightly and wagged his tail. Lan smiled and leaned backwards onto the fluffy pillows behind him and closed his eyes to rest a little more.

“Bout time you woke up!” boomed a loud, crass voice.

Lan bolted up and began looking around, searching for the source of the all too familiar voice. He looked all around and even at the ceiling, but was unable to find it.

“Down here” it said. “Look over the edge of the right side of your bed.”

Confused, Lan did as instructed and peaked over the edge. Looking up at him, with a smile on his hairy face, was Byakko. All save for his head and his arms, which were nestled under his cranium, were under the bed. 

“Uh, how long have you been down there?” asked Lan.

“Since last night.” Said Byakko, matter of factly. 

“So you’ve been there since I passed out yesterday?”

“Yesterday?” said Byakko, chuckling “It’s been three days since you passed out boy!”

“Really?” said Lan, plopping back down onto his pillows, “I guess that explains why I’m so hungry.”

“Good to hear!” shouted Byakko, “Let’s get some food!”

The whole bed shook and nearly tilted over as Byakko came out from under it, startling poor little Ignis and causing the little wolf to fall onto the floor.

In what seemed like a split second, Byakko popped up beside the now fully awake Lan and grabbed the frightened little boy’s head.

“But first thing’s first” said Byakko, grinning “You need a bath.”

“I thought you didn’t like baths” said Lan, fear in his eyes.

“Not when there as fun as the ones in my house!” shouted Byakko “Come on Ignis” Byakko grabbed the startled little wolf and placed him under his arm.

Byakko burst out of the room, carrying the two struggling forms and proceeded to dash through the hallways and down the stairs until they reached a pair of large twin double doors in the depths of the palace. With a grunt, Byakko kicked the center of it and sent the doors flying open. Inside was a massive bath with three large pools side by side, the one on the far left was bubbling and steaming, the one in the middle appeared normal, and the one on the far right was releasing what appeared to be cold water vapor. In the back of the room there were three large waterfalls, each seeming to have the same type of water as the pool directly in front of them. The room was intricately decorated with tiger-themed stone carvings. The ground of the room was constructed of black stone, and the ceiling was constructed of white stone and contained a few hanging chandeliers which glowed to life the moment the two entered.

Within a few seconds, Byakko quickly stripped Lan of his clothes and was holding the little boy, who was covering his privates with his hands, upside down by the ankle.

“Grandpa” said Lan nervously “I don’t think I’ve recovered enough to use a bath!”

“Don’t worry.” Said Byakko, lifting Lan and Ignis above his head “I checked you out this morning, you’re good!”

With a grunt Byakko tossed Lan and Ignis into the air. The two yelped as they flew through the air. With a splash, both of them landed in the bubbling far left pool with a loud hiss. 

“HOT!” screamed Lan, bursting out of the water and swimming for the nearby edge, closely followed by Ignis of course. However, the moment he grabbed the bank, he found himself face to face with a large hairy foot. 

“Stay in a little longer boy” said Byakko, who was now wearing nothing but a bath towel. With a kick, Byakko sent Lan flying back into the middle of the pool. Ignis, however, was able to jump out of the hot pool and leap into the middle one without Byakko moving to stop him. Ignis gave a whine of relief as the cooler water enveloped him. He was glad to no longer be the main target of Byakko’s harassments. 

“Gonna…die” thought Lan, as he struggled to maintain his breathe in the boiling pool.

“Okay that’s enough” said Byakko, appearing next to Lan in the pool and hoisting the now steaming boy out of the water. 

“Oh, Oh thank—“started Lan.

“Next!” shouted Byakko who then threw the boy in the direction of the pool on the far right.

Lan crashed through the surface of the water and sank halfway to the bottom. Lan sighed in pleasure as his burning skin was soothed by the cool water around him, but after a few moments he realized that things were quickly becoming…

“Cold!” shouted Lan as he burst through the surface of the icy pool. He once again tried to swim to the edge but was once again met with the same response from Byakko. Ignis watched from the central pool as Lan was volleyed back and forth between the pools six times. Finally, with a loud splash, Lan fell into the central pool where he floated on his back, once again exhausted.

“Good soak huh?” said Byakko, climbing in, “Nothing quite like a hot and cold soak to give a person a nice start to the day.”

“W-Why?” said Lan, who was slowly recovering from the ordeal he had just gone through.

“Something about blood vessels” said Byakko with a shrug, “an old friend of mine introduced me to it.”

The two of them stayed like that for a little while, Ignis constantly swimming back and forth between them and giving each of them a lick, until Lan had finally recovered. Byakko then told the boy about the deal he had made with Kong three days ago and the massive role that Lan was to play.

“Oh man.” Said Lan, scratching his head “This is going to take a lot of planning.”

“And I’m going to need to give you a lot of aura speak infusions” said Byakko, who stretched out his arms in the bubbling pool. “Got to know what the animals are saying.”

“Hmmm, I should probably start on this right after breakfast and—“started Lan.

“Whoa Whoa Whoa” interrupted Byakko, “You’re not working on anything today. I’m going to be giving you a tour of the house and the valley. You can work on all that technical mumbo jumbo starting tomorrow.”

“But aren’t we on a limited time schedule with—“

“Time schedule?” said Byakko, scoffing “Unless you’d call a couple years too little, you’ll be fine. Besides we’re also going to be traveling more to get you more world experience.”

“Then who’s going to head all of this while I’m gone?” said Lan.

“I’m sure you can train some of the animals to take care of it during the time you’re here.” said Byakko, digging his nose. 

Lan wanted to object, but judging from what he knew about his grandpa’s personality, any more questioning would result in something painful. Sighing, Lan sank deeper into the bubbling water. 

“Alrighty boy.” Said Byakko smiling, “Time for the shower!”

“Shower?” said Lan, “I don’t see any—“

That was when he realized what his grandpa was talking about; he slowly turned his head and looked at the pounding waterfalls behind him. 

“Oh no,” said Lan slowly shaking his head “no no no.”

“Come on Lan!” said Byakko standing up, “I even got soap! I know how much you like that stuff!”

Lan was about to say how ridiculous that was when he noticed something. The pool they were in had stopped bubbling. Confused, Lan looked for some kind of switch around the pool that could have been an activating mechanism, but he found none. Then, the truth struck him as he noticed that the water they were bathing in had taken on a slightly brownish hinge. Yelping in disgust, Lan jumped out of the water…and into Byakko’s outstretched hand.

“That’s the spirit!” said Byakko, pulling back the arm that held the now terrified Lan, “Let’s start with cold this time!”

With a splash, Lan crashed into the large waterfall on the right and was slammed to the ground by the pressure of the falling water. It felt as though he was being bombarded by large ice cubes. He quickly struggled to his feet, his teeth chattering, and tried to get out, but a large muscular hand covered in something slippery quickly grabbed his wrist.

Right next to him and, amazingly, covered in soap was Byakko, holding a giant bar of soap with his pits and what appeared to be a large clump of steel wool with his hand.

“Let grandpa wash your back for ya!” he said with an evil smile. “Ah heck, grandpa will wash all over ya for that matter!”

Lan watched in horror as his grandpa lathered the steel wool with the soap that he was holding under his armpit. 

“No, Grandpa!” shouted Lan, who desperately tried to pull away “I’m still injured!”

“Which means a good washing will be good for ya!” shouted Byakko, pulling Lan towards him.

The bath was soon filled was screams as Lan was washed in the hot and cold waterfalls over and over again.  
.  
.  
.  
After the ordeal in the bath, which Lan was able to survive thanks to the aura he replenished over three days of rest, Lan wearily made his way up to the dining hall. When he arrived he was pleasantly surprised by what he found. The table was filled to the bursting point with many different dishes made from the local fruits, vegetables, and fish. There was of course no meat of the more sentient animals since the meal was prepared by those creatures. Lan was more than happy to settle with the meal that was already there, Ignis as well. However, Byakko, who had arrived at the table long before Lan, had left to gather ingredients, more specifically meat. A man of Byakko’s size and energy needed much more animal protein than the local fish supply was able to satiate, since the only fish in the valley came from the lagoon at the foot of the waterfall and the river at the top. 

This made many of the animals in the area very nervous, because even though they respected the strong eat the weak principle of nature, they all felt rather perturbed that they could possibly end up in the old man’s gut the next day. Lan knew that this would make it very difficult to set up the promised civilization, which he had dubbed ‘animal town’, and made a mental note to try and find a way to fix this problem. A few minutes later, Byakko returned with the meat, gave it to the animals in charge of cooking, and sat down at the opposite side of the table, quickly polishing off most of the dishes. 

After the three finished their meal, Byakko placed Lan, who had Ignis stuck on his head, on his shoulders and began to show them the palace. It was an enormous place with hundreds of guestrooms, numerous hallways, and dozens of rooms that you would expect to find in a palace of this size. The entire palace was very well ordered when Lan was taking his tour, leading him to believe that it had been recently cleaned by the many animalian servants that were wandering the halls. 

Of all the sights that Lan saw in the palace, the ones that made the biggest impacts on Lan were the treasury at the bottom floor of the palace, the kitchen, the armory, the grand banquet hall, and the atrium at the very top of the palace. 

The treasury was a massive room filled with treasures that Byakko had collected over his many years of adventuring. The room was locked by a massive rare metal door that could only be opened by using special key and turning it with a great deal of force. Lan had walked through the mounds of gold, silver, and precious gems and wondered what Byakko actually planned to do with all the wealth.

“I dunno!” Byakko had responded “It’s pretty much all rainy day funds, but if you have a better idea on what to do with it all, I’d be more than happy to try it out!”

So as a result, money management and investing were added onto Lan’s mental to do list.

The kitchen was an enormous room filled hundreds of cooking utensils and dozens of cooking ranges and fire pits. There was also what appeared to be an enormous sink where the dishes were washed. As Lan walked through, his mind was filled with the many dishes he could prepare using this room. Lan really did have a knack for cooking. Not only did his lessons with Anna stick with him, but he also had tons of practice since he had to cook all of Byakko’s food most of the time. And at that moment his culinary spirit was burning with the desire to make something out of the many exotic ingredients found in this valley. However, Byakko, impatient as always, had quickly taken Lan out of the room and sped him along to the next destination. 

The armory was, of course, filled with weaponry. It was all more classic weaponry however, none of the hybrids and specialized weaponry that were becoming more prominent in the world. But Lan was still ecstatic as he whizzed through the room, looking at the many swords, guns, axes, and other weaponry that lined the walls. At the end of that specific tour, Byakko had allowed Lan to pick out four weapons to use. Lan had chosen a pair of rare metal nunchaku, a banded iron staff, a bow made of ironwood and steel arrow, and a pair of iron gauntlets. 

The grand banquet hall was where Lan and Kong had fought three days ago, and after the filth the monkeys had spread about the room was cleaned up and the room was returned to its former glory was Lan able to see how truly magnificent it was with its shining chandeliers, smooth floors, and beautiful decorations. However, being there also brought on a strangely bittersweet sensation. It reminded him very much of the ballroom that he had danced in with Alayna back in Little Root. After Byakko saw that melancholy that was began to form on Lan’s face, he quickly moved onto the next destination.

The atrium had been the final stop on Byakko’s tour and was by far the most magnificent. At the very top of the palace, there was a large well-kept garden. It was filled with fruit trees that soared towards the sun shining through the hole above, grasses that were as soft as quilts, and relaxing lawn paraphernalia such as hammocks and lawn chairs. With the early afternoon sunlight pouring in and the birds flitting through the trees, it was truly a beautiful and peaceful place for a person to lay down their burdens.

“Good place to relax ain’t it?” said Byakko, pulling fruit from a tree.

“Yeah” said Lan, plopping down on the grass and looking around. “and a really nice way to end the tour.”

“End?” said Byakko, chuckling slightly “This is only the end of the castle tour! I was planning on showing you the entire valley. I mean look, it’s still noon. Our day’s still going on strong!”

“Oh, Alright” said Lan, who bit into a sweet orange fruit, “Where do we start?”

“You finished resting up?” asked Byakko, smiling.

“I…guess so?” said Lan, slightly perturbed.

“Great!” shouted Byakko, leaping to his feet “The valley tour starts now, and it’s going to be tons more fun than the castle tour!”

Shooting his arm out, Byakko seized Lan by the front of his clothes and threw the boy upwards. Lan screamed as he shot like a bullet towards the center of the giant hole in the center of the cavern ceiling. With a boom, Byakko leapt upwards, quickly caught up to Lan, and caught the boy in a bear hug. The two of them shot through the hole, high into the air where they were able to see the entire valley and the area that surrounded it. Lan of course was still screaming at this time, but was quickly shut up by Byakko who clamped his strong, and of course dirty, hands across Lan’s mouth as they began to descend. As they fell through the air, Lan saw the amazing scenery of the valley, the surrounding mountains, and the areas beyond spread out around him, illuminated by the bright rays of the sun which shone high in the sky.

“Brace for impact!” shouted Byakko, tightening his arms and nearly suffocating Lan. The two of them were barreling towards the river that split before reaching the hole in the mountain, and then reformed after passing it and finally forming the giant waterfall once it reached the cliff. 

“Grandpa!” shouted Lan as Byakko released his mouth, “We need to reduce our speed!”

“Nonsense!” shouted Byakko, “You should always go full force in anything you do! Now let’s cannonball.”

With an enormous splash that created a column of water fifty feet high, Lan and Byakko crashed through the surface of the river and were quickly swept towards the waterfall by the flow. Even underwater, Lan could hear his grandpa’s booming laughter resounding all around him. 

“Baahahahahahaha!”

The two of them burst through the surface of the water a few seconds later and were greeted by the sight of the river falling off towards a deep abyss. As always, Lan was scared out of his wits while Byakko was enjoying the moment and Lan’s fear. 

“Well, at least there’s no sharp rocks at the bottom” said Lan, swallowing. 

“Who says?!” shouted Byakko “It wouldn’t be any fun to just fall into a normal lagoon, so I had some animals fill it with sharp pointy rocks while I was giving you the tour!”

“You what!?” screamed Lan, now struggling futilely to free himself from Byakko’s grasp “What the heck is wrong with you-hoo-hoo” Lan cried out the last word.

The two of them were now nearing the edge of the waterfall and were increasing in speed.

“Bring it on!” shouted Byakko.

The two of them plummeted over the edge. As the two began their long descent to the bottom, the valley was filled with the combined sounds of Lan’s screams and Byakko’s outbursts of exhilaration. Many of the animals in the forest stopped and watched as the black speck that was the two of them slowly fell down the parallel to the waterfall. Luckily for Lan, halfway down an enormous fish the size of a full grown cow burst out of the waterfall.

“Oooooh, I see an afternoon snack!” shouted Byakko, who quickly seized the fish with his left hand and pulled it towards him. 

Taking advantage of his grandfather’s lapse in attention, Lan slipped out of Byakko’s right hand and attempted to leap towards a rock free area of the deep portion of the lagoon. 

“Oh no you don’t!” shouted Byakko, who quickly stuck the fish between his legs and seized Lan with both his hands. “Now let’s ride the fish to the bottom!”

“Ahhhhh!” screamed Lan as he struggled in his grandpa’s unbreakable grip.

The two of them were then falling down to the bottom just like before, only this time Byakko was riding on a giant flailing fish.

“Countdown to impact!” shouted Byakko happily, “5!”

Lan continued to struggle.

“4!”

Lan had given up struggling and had begun despairing.

“3!”

Lan slowly had come to terms with his impending doom.

“2!”

Lan prayed to whatever being that controlled the universe.

“1!”

Lan closed his eyes, awaiting his end.

‘Wham’

Lan expected to feel the sting of sharp stones impaling his body, but strangely he felt just fine. Lan slowly opened his eyes and found himself staring at a stone spike 5 inches from his face. Confused as to why it hadn’t gone through his skull, Lan looked down and found his answer. The fish that they had been riding on had landed on the sharp stones first, became impaled, and slowed their momentum. Lan, luckily, had been held up just high enough by Byakko to avoid being impaled any of the stones. Byakko of course had been struck by the stones, but each of the sharp points had shattered upon coming in contact with his skin.

“Aw, darn” said Byakko, dropping Lan (who then fell a much less devastating distance onto the rocks below) “this fish took away the fun.” The fish currently had its eyes rolled back into its head and was leaking blood. “We didn’t get temper ourselves by smashing into the rocks.”

“Temper ourselves?” said Lan, who had climbed back onto the fish after clawing his way back up from the stones below. “I would have died!”

“Aw you would’ve been fine” said Byakko “You’re aura and training would’ve shielded you from the damage…probably.”

Sighing, Lan rubbed the part of his skull that had crashed onto the rocks and patted the giant dead fish in thanks for saving him. 

“Well, Anyway” said Byakko as he leapt onto a nearby flat rock and pulled the fish off the spikes “Let’s eat.”

The two then swam their way to the edge of the lagoon where Lan constructed a large fire by throwing one of his bombs onto the dry sticks and leaves they collected. Lan then butterflied and filleted the fish so that it could cook faster. While the fish roasted, Lan and Byakko sat on the sandy beach. No sand stuck to their clothes because the wind force from falling off the waterfall had already dried their clothes. Once it finished cooking Byakko immediately began stuffing the food into his mouth. Lan however, placed his hands together and thanked the fish for saving his life before he began his meal. Within a few minutes they had finished. Hoisting Lan onto his shoulder, Byakko then began to show the rest of the valley to Lan in a way that, thankfully, exposed Lan to much less bodily harm than initially.

The majority of the tour was spent in the forest which was bursting from the seams with all matter of flora and fauna. Byakko brought the boy to visit the territories of all major animal packs in the area. The areas they lived in varied immensely from the depths of dark underground caves to the tops of the highest trees. All of them greeted Byakko with fear and reverence before giving Lan the tour on how they lived their lives. On each of these visits, Lan talked to the leaders about the plan for bringing about an animal civilization in the valley. Most of the leaders showed interest in this matter, but at the same time most believed that it would be difficult to work with unless something could be done about Byakko, none of them wanted to end up as a snack on his dinner table. Luckily, during Lan’s conversations with the primates and the birds, he discovered a possible solution to the dilemma. After they had finished meeting with the animal packs, Byakko decided to use his favorite morning walking trail to show Lan the rest of the major places in the valley forest. It was a splendid route illuminated by the sunlight that slipped through the hanging foliage and during this time, Lan recognized and gathered many medicinal and poisonous plants that he had read about in books or had learned from people in his village. Many of them could be used in medicine and potentially poison making. 

At each stop on the trail, Byakko showed Lan a unique part of the forest. Large bubbling hot springs, relaxing emerald glades (where Lan considered starting the first agricultural operations), and beautiful one-of-a kind plants that only grew in the valley just to name a few. After a little while the trail went inside of the mountain and ended up leading to the cavern where Byakko’s palace dwelled. When Lan inquired why they didn’t use this passage originally, Byakko burst out laughing and patted Lan on the back so hard that the boy fell onto his face. 

At this time Ignis, who was angry over being left behind, burst from the front of the castle and made a beeline for Lan and Byakko, determined not to get left behind again. 

“I don’t know what to say” said Lan, patting the disgruntled Ignis on the head “You missed some fun stuff, but you also missed a lot of pain.”

After adding Ignis to the group, Byakko began to show the two through the various tunnels and cavities of the cavern. The cave was filled with hundreds of sparkling natural crystal formations formed from the raw dust ore (many of which Ignis “marked” with disastrous results). From what he read about in current dust energy usage, Lan realized that the amount of raw dust in the cavern would be able to equip an entire army, power a large city for years, and still have enough to sell for a massive profit. Once they had finished looking around the cavern Byakko punched another hole in the waterfall and threw Lan and Ignis out of it. The two of them flew through the air and crashed into the side of the great tree in front of the lagoon. As he peeled his face off the tree side, Lan realized that the sun had begun setting. Suddenly he felt a large hand on his back and he turned around to see Byakko holding Ignis in one hand and was amazingly standing perpendicular to the tree by digging his toes into the bark. 

“Come on boy” he said, pointing upwards. “Time for the last stop.”

Byakko threw the now mentally-prepared-to-be-thrown Lan to the tree leaves above and dashed upwards, passing Lan by, and caught the boy halfway through the leaves of the tree. Built inside this part of the tree was a large treehouse that had apparently grown out of the tree. Byakko carried Lan and Ignis through the door and inside. The inside was fully furnished and contained everything you would expect to find in a log cabin, with the exception of a fireplace of course. Byakko set Lan and Ignis down on some chairs in front of a table near the large window that faced the valley and took a seat on the opposite side. Sitting on the table was a pitcher of fresh fruit juice, a large bowl of water, and a keg that smelled strongly of alcohol. 

“Ah, I see them monkeys set it all up well.” Said Byakko, uncorking the keg and taking a deep whiff of its contents. “The best way to end a tour is truly to watch the sunset with a drink in hand.”

“Nice tree house” said Lan, sipping some juice from the pitcher.

“Yes it is!” said Byakko happily “It ,along with my palace, was constructed with my own two hands” Lan raised his eyebrow “along with the assistance of many of my friends and people that owed me for things!” Lan lowered his eyebrow. 

Byakko tipped the keg backwards and took a long chug out of it after which he let out a long sigh into Lan’s face, causing the boy’s eye to twitch. 

“Good!” said Byakko, “Especially after 40 years of aging!”

Lan didn’t pay attention to this and instead looked out the window at the valley bathed in golden sunshine. 

“It’s beautiful” thought Lan, as Byakko took another long chug from the keg. His gaze traveled over the whole valley, noting the locations of each and every important area they had traveled to that day, but as his gaze began to slip past the surrounding mountain range he noticed something.

“Hey grandpa” said Lan, standing on the chair and poking his head out of the window.

“Hmmm?” said Byakko, as he finished the large keg and uncorked another one that was lying nearby. 

“What’s that spot of green over there?”

Lan pointed in its direction and Byakko stuck his head out the window as well to get a better look. After scrutinizing for a few moments, Byakko’s eyes lit up in recognition.

“Ah” he said, sitting back down on the chair “That would be the emerald forest. If I remember correctly it’s often used for the Beacon Academy initiation.”

“Beacon academy?” said Lan whipping around “Isn’t that one of the best hunter academy’s there is? And—wait!” Lan suddenly realized something else. “That means we’re near the city of Vale! One of the four kingdoms on Remnant! Oh grandpa” Lan threw himself onto the table, avoiding the drinks of course, and clasped his hands in a begging gesture “can we go? Oh please please can we go there?”

Byakko burst out laughing, shook his head, and ruffled Lan’s hair.

“You can go anytime you want” said Byakko, smiling, “but I’m afraid this old tiger won’t be coming with you.”

“Why not?” said Lan, disgruntled “I can’t go there if you don’t come with me.”

“Sorry boy” said Byakko, starting his third keg (and at this point his face was beginning to grow red from intoxication). “It’s a promise I made with my team a long long time ago. We promised that none of us would ever get to close to any of the major cities of the four kingdoms. Too much attention. Sure being a famous hero is fun in the beginning, but then you get into all those political situations and get weird people knocking on your door at night.” Byakko shuddered as he remembered it “It’s way better to be unsung heroes, changing the world from where people can’t see us.”

Lan was a bit miffed over not being able to go, but he was also curious and surprised to hear that his grandfather had a team.

“You had a team?” asked Lan, leaping back onto his chair. 

“Yep” said Byakko, chucking an empty keg out the window which, from the squawking that came from below, hit a bird “Team BAMT (battlement), back then we were called the invincible bulwark of mankind against the Grimm.”

“Who was in it?” asked Lan.

“There was me of course, the dashing leader and powerhouse” said Byakko, swaying slightly now that he was on his 10th keg. “Then there was Agni Chutuoc, funny guy who specialized in fighting large numbers of enemies, Meng Zhang, the guy who going to train you in a few years and the brains in our team, and Teo Hyunmu, tough lady who was our defense specialist. And you know what they look like boy.”

“I do?” said Lan.

“Yep” replied Byakko “The four of us are on that giant painting back in the dining hall.”

Lan did remember that giant piece of artwork, hanging above the banister. On the far right there was a black-haired women wearing heavy black armor and had two giant black metal shields on her back. Next to her was a black-haired man wearing blue and tan cloth robes and had on a pair of shimmering metal gauntlets. Next to him was a red-headed shirtless man wearing a pair of baggy pants and had two large red chakram at his sides that had flame-like designs. Finally at the far left was a younger version of Byakko who was wearing his trademark gi and was carrying a giant katana on his back. 

“Hey, you had a sword back then!” said Lan “I thought you didn’t use weapons?”

“I don’t ushe it anymore” said Byakko belching and downing another keg “Got to eashy to beat meh enemies so I hid it away shomwhere ‘belch’. But that’s after I stopped traveling together with those guys. Got lot more…boring after we shplit up ‘yawn’”

“I wonder if I’ll ever get a team.” said Lan softly as he stared off into the bright evening sky. “Do you think I’ll ever find one grandpa?”

Lan turned to Byakko to receive some confirmation but found the large man slumped back into his chair, snoring and hugging a large half-empty keg of spirits. Lan sniffed the top and wrinkled his nose.

“90% alcohol” said Lan scooting away from the table “He’ll be out for the rest of the night.”

Lan looked around the cabin and found that there was only one bed in the house, so it was actually lucky that Byakko fell asleep in the chair. After all Lan didn’t want to sleep while being pressed against his grandfather’s smelly armpits. 

After tossing a large green blanket onto Byakko, Lan chugged the rest of the juice then filled the pitcher with clean water from a large urn. He then placed the pitcher on the bedside table and then searched around the cabin until he found a pen and a stack of paper which he then placed on the bedside as well.

“Good thing I always keep these with me” said Lan, pulling out a toothbrush, toothpaste, toilet paper, and soap. Another stroke of fortune was that there was also a bathroom in the house that, although had no running water, had a washbasin filled with crystal clear liquid and a toilet, which Lan discovered lead to the outside of the cabin and ,ironically, a sheer drop to the flowers down below. 

After finishing up with the bedtime preparations, Lan went back to check on Byakko. The situation on his return was just as he had expected it. Byakko was snoring and still covered with the blanket while his clothes lay in piles around him. Byakko had the habit of sleeping in the nude you see and always woke up in the morning wearing what he was born with…absolutely nothing. This was also the main reason Lan covered him up with the large blanket, he didn’t want to see his grandfather sprawled but naked on the chair, after all the man’s natural body heat and hair were more than enough to keep him warm throughout the night. 

Lan found Ignis curled up on Byakko’s lap, drawn by the heater like warmth that was given off the drunken man’s drooling form. Ignis usually moved around here and there over the whole night, he never spent the night in a single place. Good thing too, otherwise he would have been subject to Byakko’s cheerful awakening, which was often quite painful for those around him. 

Lan peered out the window and found that the sun had just set and its golden light was beginning to disappear. Lighting a candle, Lan walked into the bedroom. He hopped onto the bed took a long chug of water, and then began to make plans for the animal civilization, writing down everything on the pieces of paper. Since he had already gotten information and opinions from all of the forest leaders, he was quickly able to finish a rough draft of the plan, only taking one to two hours to finish it. Nodding in satisfaction, Lan reached into his gi and pulled out a small watch, setting it for early the next morning. He needed to experiment on a special something bright and early tomorrow, and if it wasn’t successful the rest of his plans would never be able to succeed. Luckily, he had read a book on exotic foods that had given him a lot of insight into the matter. 

Yawning, Lan blew out the candle on the desk and slipped under the blankets. Within a few minutes he had fallen asleep, and within a few more minutes he had unconsciously removed all of his clothing and continued to sleep under the blankets in the buff. What can I say? A child always becomes a bit like those who raised them whether they want to or not.   
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Byakko sat at the giant meal table in his palace, eyeing the new exotic dishes that sat in front of his eyes.

“So, what are these again?” he said.

Lan, who was wearing a toque and apron and was standing in front of a nervous group of animals, timidly stepped forward.

“Your animal protein alternatives.” he said nervously. “The other animals are concerned that they might end up on your menu and since there isn’t enough fish to sustain you—“

“I know boy you told me already” interrupted Byakko. “I’m asking what these are specifically.”

“Right.” Said Lan. The boy walked forwards and pointed to a pot of yellow curry that seemed perfectly normal with the exception of it containing

“Crickets” said Byakko, eyeing the pot. 

“Y-yes” said Lan, his throat suddenly dry. “a-and we also have” he pointed to each dish as he named them “crunchy fried spiders with a slight chili dusting, grilled beetles with garlic sauce, roasted ants with assorted spices, and a bunch of other t-tasty bug dishes.”

Byakko looked over the spread for a few minutes and then nodded.

“Well, let’s give it a try.” Byakko pulled a plate of spiders towards him, grabbed a large handful, sniffed them, and then shoved the lot into his mouth. While he chewed, he closed his eyes and exhibited a thoughtful expression. Lan was sweating buckets while this took place and wished that Byakko would just get on with his verdict. Byakko noticed this and continued chewing for longer than necessary; he enjoyed making his grandson nervous after all. A few moments later Byakko swallowed, smacked his lips a few times and then, after a long pause, smiled.

“Mmmm” said Byakko, his mouth smeared with arachnid debris “tastes like soft-shelled crab.”

Lan, as well as the animals behind him, let out a sigh of relief. Byakko pulled the curry towards him this time and ladled it onto a large bed of rice.

“Mmmm” he said, shoving a large spoonful of it into his mouth “the crickets complement the curry quite well.”

After a few more minutes Byakko finished all of the food on the table, all the while Lan and the animals celebrated inwardly. After polishing off the last of them, he turned to Lan and smiled.

“Well boy, you have successfully added bugs to my meat menu” said Byakko, picking his teeth with one of his nails. 

“And?” said Lan.

“I know I know” said Byakko chuckling “I now promise that I will eat no animal that lives in this valley as long as there is a stable supply of bugs to keep me fed…unless of course one of them is dumb enough to attack me.”

“That okay with you guys?” asked Lan, turning to the animals behind him, and from the cries that followed, Lan was sure that they agreed, even though he didn’t have an aura speaker on. 

“Well, now that’s over with, I think I need a quick nap” said Lan letting out a large yawn “Wake me up when its training time.”

Lan then left the room, ignoring Byakko as the old man ordered some more, dare I say it, ‘grub’. The boy then climbed the stairs to his room, clambered into bed, and after taking of his clothes, fell into a deep sleep. His dreams were filled with the plans of building up the animal civilization and now that the biggest problem was out of his way, his grandfather’s appetite of course, the visions soothed him instead of giving him further mental pain.  
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Over the next few months the valley changed drastically. With the help of the many animal groups interested in improving their ways of life, Lan was able to enact key architectural and agricultural plans. Most of the animals in the valley weren’t intelligent enough to understand Lan’s plans, however the leaders of each group were able to break down the responsibilities given to them into basic commands that they issued to their less intelligent brethren.

Large homes were built for different animals were built from fallen trees and other spare materials in the valley, each built with Lan’s supervision since his engineering skills were better than any other creature in the valley. These homes were placed at the top of or bottom of trees depending on the animals they were built for and were placed in areas where they wouldn’t be in the way of other animals. This took care of the shelter problem that many animal leaders had complained about and helped clear up much of the ground area for other uses. 

With the permission of the animals that lived in the glades scattered throughout the forest and ½ of the flower field that Lan’s group controlled, those areas were tilled and used as the first fields and were used to grow plants that the many different animals ate. This involved a complex process that involved the teamwork of multiple different animal species. It usually started with the hoofed animals pulling the plows that cut through the grounds, while smaller animals followed behind and planted seeds. Simple irrigation networks were also constructed from what Lan remembered about primitive farming methods, and were used to distribute water from the lagoon to each field, and there were never any water supplies since the waterfall constantly dumped more water than they could possibly use.

They also began the cultivation of many different kinds of bugs, including crickets, spiders, mealworms, and beetles. The insects were raised in controlled environments where their population growth could be monitored. The chances of a large amount them escaping was small in their respective farming site (for example inside of 100% stone caves or areas covered with thick netting.), and the herbivorous insects were fed by throwing in plant matter that the other animals didn’t want to eat. The carnivorous bugs were of course fed using the herbivorous ones. This soon established a productive source of insects for many of the insectivorous and omnivorous animals to eat, and most importantly supplied Byakko with his protein needs.

Slowly but surely, many of the animals living on the side of the forest controlled by Kong’s faction slowly left and joined Lan’s due to the higher chance of survival offered to them by the increased food supply, guaranteed living space, and reduction in the aggressiveness of meat-eating animals due to the insect and fish harvests providing enough food for the carnivorous animals to survive without hunting.

The animals also continued their vigil on the borders of the valley to prevent any Grimm from piercing into their borders. Organized by Lan, many patrol schedules were produced and given to the animals that exhibited the highest combat ability. Along with the tactics taught to them by Lan, the regular patrolling schedules allowed the animals to more effectively prevent any Grimm from entering.

Through the lessons that Lan gave to the more intelligent leaders of each species, different forms of knowledge began to form and it wasn’t long before animals with more innovative ways of thinking began to appear, mostly consisting of primates, rats, dogs, ravens, crows, and elephants. Although not quite as intelligent as the average human, they were able to absorb Lan’s lessons on law, economy, and other important factors related to the establishment of a civilization. Their intellectual superiority to others of their species gave rise to a new title that was given to them in each of their animal societies: scholars.

Strangely however, none of the animals, including the scholars, were interested in spreading their knowledge to other animals outside the valley nor were they interested in expanding their borders. You see, most animals have a great fear of the unknown and often will not transgress beyond their normal habits unless they are forced too and the added fear of having a higher chance of Grimm attacking them also made the idea of isolation appealing to them. I also don’t have to mention what kind of chaos would result from humans meeting sentient animals.

On a side note, for clarification’s sake, the reason that the animals in the valley were able to achieve the level of awareness required to achieve the many accomplishments stated above is because of the training of aura that Byakko imposed on their ancestors and was subsequently passed down to the leaders of each animal clan by their ancestors.

All these developments bring us to present time, the morning of a very special day…

The morning sunlight poured through the window, reflected into the room by a large dust crystal. However, Lan never noticed its soothing rays. After all, who can feel the rays of the sun while buried under 2 feet of parchment. Lan had been working late into the night, sorting through the reports that had been brought to him by his simian scribes and sending out orders where they were needed. He had fallen asleep while reading through another complaint about the monkey feces flinging habits. Collapsing onto the table, he had knocked over the giant stack of unfinished reports and had buried himself. Serendipitously, the papers proved to be an effective blanket and kept him warm throughout the night. 

So deep was his sleep that he never noticed the door creak open nor heard the scuffling that filled the room for a few minutes. Sadly, the boy was quite unprepared when:

‘HOOOOOOOOOOOOONK’

The blaring sound of an air horn pierced through the room, shocking Lan out of his slumber and causing him to bolt into a sitting position, which sent numerous reports flying. 

“Wassa-huh?” gurgled Lan, whose mind was numb from sleep.

He felt a hand touch his forehead and felt an infusion of aura enter him.

“Alright he’s ready!” came painfully a familiar voice. “Are you guys ready?”

The room was filled with the sound of animal cries that Lan was able to understand as shouts of agreement.

“One, two, three.” Counted Byakko.

“Happy Birthday Lan!” shouted every creature, which consisted of the leaders of each animal tribe, in the room.

Rubbing his eyes, Lan smiled as his mind began to register the events taking place. That’s right, today was his 7th birthday.

“And what’s a birthday party” said Byakko, smiling “Without a giant cake!”

The crowd parted and revealed a massive colorful birthday cake that seemed to consist of multiple different flavors.

“Turned out pretty well” said Byakko, “It’s made from some of our most recent wheat crop, sweetened with fruit sugar, and given consistency by the milk and eggs of our friends here.”

The birds and cows squawked and mooed in response to this. 

“It’s also breakfast for you!” said Byakko, quickly cutting the cake into pieces with a knife and placing a piece on a plate “Come on boy! Eat up so we can start our celebrations! It’s going to be a long day!” 

Lan smiled and shoved the pastry into his mouth, his cheeks swelling like a chipmunk’s. After having a few more slices and sharing pieces with every creature in the room, Lan gave a nod to Byakko who grabbed the rest of the cake and crammed it into his mouth. Afterwards the groups marched out of the room and began Lan’s birthday party which would last the rest of the day.

The birthday party was quite exhilarating. Byakko had planned many fun and exciting games and events to commemorate Lan’s 7th birthday (albeit many of them involved him chasing things, Lan most of the time, around with a giant stick) and had made the cooking scholars of the animals prepare lots and lots of food and drinks (mostly alcohol of course) to be eaten and drunk during the celebration. With the celebration lasting from morning to noon, things got quite rowdy, especially after Byakko and many of the older animals had become thoroughly inebriated. The younger animals and Lan often had to hide away when their drunken elders started to become…too enthusiastic, especially when Byakko got caught up the monkeys’ game of…chocolate throwing. During this time, Lan constantly attempted to avoid getting caught up in the chaos by trying to sneak back to his work, which was never successful since Byakko always caught him. Lan was also horrified to discover that the violators of the few established laws of the civilized half of the forest had been packaged in confetti and hung from the ceiling by Byakko to act as the birthday party’s piñatas. 

“Who wants first swing” said Byakko at the time, a large spiked bat in his hands. “I already packed candy into them! Let’s bash’em until sweets and red liquid rain down upon us!”

The animals packed into the piñatas began to cry and moan after that. Thankfully, Lan quickly put a stop to the act by distracting his grandfather with alcohol while other animals helped the bonded creatures down and returned them to their previous holding cells. 

The party ended that evening in the giant tree in front of the waterfall. Along with the treehouse, it turns out that Byakko had built another structure there. It was a giant lookout terrace near the top of the tree that was large and sturdy enough for even the biggest of the forest leaders and scholars to move around and was shielded from the elements by a thick canopy of leaves. In the center of the platform was a giant table filled with food that all the animals partook from. Lan sat on a wooden chair next to his grandfather. Both of them were staring out at the orange sky. 

“Well, that was a fun day” said Lan, a weary smile on his face “and a nice meal is always a good way to end a party.”

“Well, of course boy” said Byakko, who was holding his 40th bottle of whiskey “it’s you’re going away party as well.”

“Oh okay” said Lan, yawning “So it’s my going away—“ Lan’s eyes shot open and he sat up straight in his chair “Wait a second!” he yelled “Going away party? What do you mean by that?”

“It ain’t healthy for guys like us to stay in one place too long” said Byakko, emptying the whiskey bottle “and I think it’s about time we moved on.”

“But there’s too much work to be done now” said Lan “we’ve still got to develop more land, establish laws, and make sure the interspecies relationships go well just to name a few of our problems and without me—“

“They’ll do just fine” interrupted Byakko “you’ve already taught enough scholarly animals to fill a bureaucracy, and they’ve already told me that they’ll be able to handle things. Ain’t that right boys and girls” Byakko directed this last comment at the group of animal scholars that gave a roar of agreement.

“B-but I can’t just leave like this though” said Lan, getting shakily to his feet “there’s still so much that I have to—“

Lan was cut off as Byakko seized his face, squishing the boy’s cheeks until the boy’s lips puckered out.

“I’m just going to ask you one question boy” said Byakko, his eyes narrowed and his bottom lip sticking out “Do you really think you can convince me to let you stay.”

Lan thought for a moment and, being completely familiar with his grandfather’s obstinate and childish personality, shook his head.

“Right.” Said Byakko, patting Lan on the back “that means we got to make this party end with a bang! And what better way than with presents?!”

Byakko clapped his hands and a massive box filled with wrapped packages dropped down from the leaves above. 

“A little something from everyone” said Byakko as he looked down at Lan’s wide-eyed expression. “Go on boy, open em up!”

As instructed Lan, tore through his presents and found a variety of gifts that varied from the strange to the useful. He appreciated the many natural dust crystals and raw materials that were given to him since they could be used in a variety of situations, he was a little bit of an engineer and these would provide him with extra options to work with. There were also an assortment of charms made from the feathers, fangs, and claws of many of the animals as a reminder of Lan’s stay there. Of course there were also many strange, disgusting, or just plain strange gifts including half-eaten pieces of fruit, insects, and even a box of what appeared to be excrement. 

“And finally” said Byakko after Lan had opened the last box “It’s time for my present!”

From inside of his gi, Byakko removed a brown leather package and handed it to Lan. Feeling rather nervous, since you never know what Byakko might do, Lan opened it. Inside was a dark blue travel cloak, a white spider silk t-shirt, a pair of black shorts with multiple pockets, and a pair of black gloves. 

“We’ll probably be heading into more towns and big cities pretty soon” said Byakko as he picked his nose. “This’ll attract a lot less attention than a gi. The gi’s something we wear to matches, training, and to just plain look cool. Gotta have some civilian clothes too.”

“Wow” said Lan as he held his new clothes in his hands “This is nice! What’ll you be wearing in the cities grandpa?”

“Why these of course” said Byakko, motioning to the gi he was wearing.

“But if you want to avoid attention—“ started Lan

“No, it’s you who wants to avoid some of the attention” said Byakko, “I however, revel in it!”

“Well…Okay.” Said Lan examining the cloak. “But what about what you said about being an unsung hero?”

“It’s fine as long as they don’t know that it was I that did the deed, that way I don’t get the credit” said Byakko, “which is why I have my special ninja outfit to change into when I don’t want people to know it’s me!”

“Uh-huh” said Lan, remembering the tattered and smelly attire that filled one of the chests in Byakko’s room.

“Oh look boy” said Byakko standing up, “the sun is setting. Do you know what that means?”

“No.” said Lan, overcome with the usual fear that filled him whenever Byakko asked a question.

“It’s time to greet the night!” shouted Byakko. Reaching behind his chair he grabbed an object and tossed it at Lan.

Lan caught it and quickly realized what it was. 

“My clarinet?” said Lan puzzled. “What do you want me to do with—“

Before he finished his sentence, Byakko slapped a few sheets into his face. After peeling them off Lan discovered that they were sheet music. When he turned to asked Byakko about this, he found that the old man had donned a pair of sunglasses and a guitar. He also found that the music scholars had each pulled out their own custom instruments that were tailored to be used only by members of their respective species.

“You ready” said Byakko, his sunglasses sliding down to reveal his eyes “for some jazz?”

Lan sighed, placed the notes in a place where he could see them, and began to play. As he played the first few lines, he recognized the music as what the village band had played on the day he had killed his first Grimm. To many others it was an upbeat and happy tune that got them dancing with joy. But to Lan, it would always be a bittersweet melody that brought forth the memory of more innocent days. The rest of the animals cheered as the newly formed group played tune after tune, dragging the party on and on until the crack of dawn.   
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Three days later Lan and Byakko had fully packed and were ready to hit the road once again. Lan as always had packed a giant backpack full of tools, books, weapons, and travel necessities and Byakko, having grown fond of the house, decided to carry it on his back once again. Ignis, not wanting to be left out, had Lan tie a little bag onto him which contained a few bones, some dog toys, and his brush.

The three of them had already said their goodbyes to the many animal leaders and climbed up the slope leading out of the valley when they came upon an unexpected guest.

“Haven’t seen you for a little while” said Byakko “How’s it going Kong?”

The large black monkey stood there on the slope in front of them, a frown on his face and his arms folded. 

“You want a rematch already?” Byakko scratched his chin while Lan dropped his bag and pulled out a staff. “I think the boy would be more than happy to oblige.”

Kong stared at them for a long moment and then sighed. 

“It’s not a fight that I want.” He said “I’m just here to talk.”

“Oh, well then” said Byakko, looking slightly disappointed “I guess—“he stopped talking as Lan lifted his arm. 

“Can I do the talking grandpa?” said Lan, “I think we need something more diplomatic this time.”

Byakko paused, smiled, and then nodded his head. 

“What did you want to talk about Kong?” said Lan “Is it about the village we’re building?”

“Yes” said Kong calmly “although it has only been six months I have already seen the impact that it is having. Many of the animals that lived in my territory have moved to yours because of the easier life it grants them. But at the same time none of them seem to have lost their pride as creatures of nature. This has…left me slightly puzzled. I believed that if we animals attempted to emulate your society, we would be taken in by the same darkness that has taken root within men. However, even as we begin to advance more and more I find no greed, avarice, or any of the other poisons of the soul of mankind taking root. We live each day more orderly than we have done in the past, but still it is there: the pristine spirit of nature that I feared would forsake us.”

“Well that’s because you’re animals” said Lan “even if you all adopt the way that man has lived, you will still be different. Man was already separate from the circle of life and food chains to begin with. I’m not quite sure how animals came to be, but man was born from dust as a separate existence to you all. Even if animals and men we’re put under the same conditions, we would respond to it differently.”

Kong stared at Lan for a few moments and lowered his head, chuckling slightly. 

“An interesting theory” said Kong “but perhaps the change to my kind comes slowly, so slow that it couldn’t be noticed in my lifetime. It is something that I must prevent at all costs, to preserve the purity that is our oneness with nature…However” he raised his head “in order to prevent such a thing from occurring one must be able to understand your people’s way of thinking. I am ill-equipped to do so however. I am already set in my ways and as a result would not have the ability to learn of it…that is why I need someone who can. Someone who possesses that knowledge so that we may know how to reap the benefits of civilization without losing ourselves to the darkness it could create. So, I have decided to send this young lad with you.”

Kong stepped aside and revealed a small brown monkey sitting behind him, who stared curiously at Lan. 

“This is my son George” said Kong “he will be accompanying you to gather the knowledge that we need.”

The little monkey got up and walked on all fours until he stood in front of Lan.

“Hello” said Lan tentatively. The little monkey responded by smiling and revealing its full set of teeth. 

“Dawww” said Byakko “How cute. I think it’s fine if we have another traveling buddy. Right Lan?”

“Yeah” said Lan, who was shaking the little monkey’s hand.

“I would say to make sure that you train him to be strong” said Kong “but knowing the white beast, my son will have no shortage of hardships.”

“You know it!” said Byakko smiling. 

“Now go” said Kong, walking past the five “I will not keep you any longer…and George.”

The little monkey looked up at his father.

“Make me proud.”

The little monkey nodded.

Then with a new companion at their side, Lan and co. walked out of the valley and towards their next adventure. This time their hearts a little lighter, because now they had created a place that they could truly call home. 

Tiger valley epilogue: In the coming years the valley began to resemble a small farming village with huts of varying sizes for the animals. Besides farming and other techniques to improve their likelihood of survival and provide entertainment, the animals in the valley were rather uninterested in the development in many forms of knowledge and as a result did not improve in them even when taught those subjects by Lan. Kong eventually opened up to the living in the area after he discovered that his fears of corruption being born in the now animal town were unfounded. And it truly was an animal town, although you could see the evidences of civilization, the way the animals lived their lives still stuck firm to the laws of nature. Predators still hunted prey, in moderation however due to the easier sources of food, nature grew mostly unregulated, and the populations were maintained under the maximum carrying capacity of the area. Most of the laws were also unneeded since there was rarely any unrest within the population. 

Lan and Byakko’s good relationships with the local wildlife stayed amicable and friendly, especially since Byakko was the only “predator” that chose to only eat insects and fish while he was in the valley (he did however hunt for prey outside of the valley though). Strangely enough, the development of the civilization also eventually came to a halt and for a reason that we humans believe that we can understand, but in reality are unable to. The animals were content with how they lived their lives by that time and didn’t wish for any further change. So the place became the home for Byakko and Lan, a place where they could forget about their adventures for a little while, and rest peacefully in wild village. Also the spirit within Lan became more guarded afterwards. Due to its little outburst during Lan’s battle with Kong, the spirit’s presence had almost become known to the boy and that was something it couldn’t let the boy discover, not yet. So for many years after that, the spirit hid itself away deeper within the recesses of Lan’s soul, never revealing itself until a certain fateful day.


	19. Chapter 19

Ch 19

“Are you ready Lan?”

It was late evening and Byakko was currently standing on the edge of a steep cliff leading down to a narrow gorge, Ignis and George worn out at his feet from their training. At the bottom, trembling with fear and determination was Lan, wearing his training gi. Byakko was holding a couple of steel ropes in his right hand that led to a giant bolder standing directly behind Lan. 

“Honestly…no” said Lan.

“Good!” shouted Byakko “let the deathstalker run begin!”

The boulder behind Lan flew into the air and landed with a loud thump behind Byakko. Now free from what previously held it, a large deathstalker got up and hissed as it noticed Lan in front of it.

“And remember” said Byakko, smiling “This is a running exercise, every attack you make will be penalized” Byakko reached down “with a nice big boulder!” he then picked up said projectile. 

Before he had finished his sentence Lan had already started running, the large deathstalker hot on his heels. Lan wouldn’t have thought to battle the deathstalker on his own anyways. This class of Grimm was far too powerful for him to deal with. Luckily, Lan was able to make use of the many stone obstacles along the path he ran in order to stall the death stalker, running in a way that the deathstalker crashed into the many stone obstructions and slowed as it tried to catch the boy. Lan knew there was only one way out of this, reach the goal point. The goal, however, was 10 miles away from his starting position and with his body worn out from all the training he already did that day, it would take him around an hour of running to reach that point. During that time he would have to be careful not to make any mistakes and be caught by the deathstalker because although he knew his grandpa would save him if things became dangerous, he was also aware that Byakko would probably allow him to be beaten rather badly before coming to his rescue. Looking up, Lan saw Byakko leisurely keeping pace with the boy, George and Ignis resting on his shoulders and a giant basket of boulders was held in one of his hands. 

“Must survive.” Thought Lan for the 20th time that day. And with that thought buried in his mind, he pushed forward.

He did well during the first 40 minutes, but afterwards he felt exhaustion slowly encompassing him. His lungs screamed in pain, his muscles felt as if they were pierced by needles, and his gi was completely soaked with sweat. It was then, when his eyes were fogging from exhaustion that the first trip happened. He rammed his big toe into a rock and fell forward, tumbling along until he crashed into a large rock ahead. Quickly regaining his senses, Lan saw from between his legs that the upside down from of the deathstalker was almost upon him. 

“Oh…no choice” thought Lan, quickly getting to his feet. He reached inside his gi, pulled out an explosive, activated it, and chucked it at the deathstalker. The moment it left his hand, Lan leapt out of the way to avoid the giant boulder that crashed onto the area where he had been standing half-a second before. The explosion happened a second later and the deathstalker screeched as it was halted by the blast. Taking advantage of its momentary pause, Lan took out his staff and rammed the end of it into the boulder, smashing it into small pieces that struck the deathstalker’s legs and caused it to fall down, which subsequently earned him another boulder. Lan then turned on his heels and began running again. Many similar instances like this occurred in the last twenty minutes until finally, his mind flooded with relief, Lan saw the goal come into view. Tears pouring from his eyes, Lan put on an extra burst of speed and blasted through the goal at 20 mph, which I would like to point out is surprisingly the top speed of a hippo. After passing through the goal Lan, tripped once again and crashed onto the ground. This time he wasn’t worried as the deathstalker approached him, and his calm demeaned was justified as the Grimm was bombarded to death with boulders right before it could seize Lan in one of its claws. 

“Good job boy!” said Byakko, landing on the giant pile of boulders.

“Yeah” said Lan, plopping into his back and breathing hard. “So, what now?”

Byakko smiled, raised his arm, and pointed at the nearby mountains. 

“Our next destination!” he said, smiling. “It’s just over that mountain. I checked while you were doing your 1000 squats of doom a little while ago.”

“Oh, finally!” said Lan, stretching. “What are we going to do there?”

“We are going to get you some job experience!” said Byakko “As well as let you learn about one of the most powerful organizations in the world!”

This took Lan completely by surprise. This large, rebellious, and uncivilized man was pushing him to get a job? 

“Uh grandpa” said Lan “you feeling okay?”

“As fit as a fiddle as I’ve always been!” said Byakko with a smile. “Now come on, it should take us a day or two to reach that mountain, and once we get there you’d better get your fingers ready cause we’ll be climbing it to get there!”

“Alright.” said Lan, getting up “then I guess I’ll make dinner now. Tonight it’s stew.”

An hour later Lan had prepared the massive vat of the bubbling dish, a large dome of rice, some cooked meat for Ignis, and assorted fruits for George. With their stomachs full, everyone went to their respective sleeping areas (with Ignis and George’s sleeping areas being in Lan’s room) and fell asleep.   
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That same day at the very same time, in a large and lavishly decorated office.

“What!?” shouted an old Faunus man with white hair “What do you mean you’re lowering our pay!”

A man with neatly combed black hair, a pair of glasses, and a neat white suit looked up from his desk and up at the old man. 

“It is just as I said Milton” said the man calmly, a businesslike smile on his face “The overall production of the workers has fallen, so wages will fall accordingly.”

“That’s because all of our machinery broke!” shouted Milton “how are we supposed to mine as quickly as before with broken drills and stalled conveyor belts!”

“Well you all should have taken better care of the equipment that was given to you all, right?” said the man at the desk.

“Shut up Siemans!” shouted Milton “We both know that the majority of the equipment was over 20 years old!”

“And how is that my problem?” said Siemans “If new equipment is sent from the head office, that’s fine, if not then you’ll just have to make do.”

“We won’t be able to make do with these wages!” shouted Milton “We’ll barely be able to survive!”

“Well then you’d better increase production” said Siemans, who had gone back to his paperwork.

“You—, how are we going to do that when we’re growing weaker every day?” shouted Milton “Our families are starving out there, you think we’ll be able to work with that happening?!”

“You are more than free to leave” said Siemans. “Just walk out the gates after turning in your forms.”

“Leave?” shouted Milton “How can we leave when there’s no way we can walk out of this damned place?! And even if we could we’d be torn apart by the Grimm in the surrounding area! The only way we’d be able to leave is if you provided us all with aircraft transportation!”

“Which we sadly do not have the resources for.” Said Siemans.

“Then at the very least give us more to eat and make it safer for us to work!” shouted Milton “We’ve dealt with the squalid living conditions you’ve given us for years!” Milton took a deep breathe, and then continued with gritted teeth. “If you want us to do better at least give us that.”

Siemans paused for a moment and then began to laugh.

“Good working conditions? For you animals?” he chuckled “do horses and pigs need clean places to sleep?”

“Why you—! “started Milton.

“You Faunus are a dime a dozen and can easily be replaced.” spat Siemans “Why would we care if we lost a couple of you beasts of burden? We provide you with food and wages that are much too good for your pathetic race. So stop bitching like a little girl and get yourself and your lazy friends back to work!”

Milton roared, and rounded on the man.

“Ah, Ah, Ah” said Siemans, wagging his finger. 

The guards dressed in the standard issues Schnee company uniforms on either side of Siemans’s desk stepped forward and pointed their pistols at Milton, forcing the old man to stop in his tracks. 

“I believe we are done here” said Siemans, dryly “boys, please escort the Union leader out of the administrative building.”

The two guards holstered their guns, grabbed the old man by the arms, and dragged him towards the pair of double doors at the back of the room. As he was dragged away kicking and struggling, Milton yelled insults at Siemans that could still be heard even as the heavy steel doors slammed closed. Once he was completely alone, Siemans’s calm smile turned into a scowl and the man stood up and walked over to the window on the left side of the room where he could overlook the entire mining operation. Siemans was the director of a Schnee company mining operation deep within the wilds and far away from any of the kingdoms. A small town had sprung up around the operation where the workers, employees, and guards lived and got their supplies. The town was called Dust Hole, due to being at the bottom of a giant hole in a mountain range.

Siemans had recently been promoted to this position after weaseling his way up through the ranks through blackmail and bribery. He had felt satisfied and proud as he continued to leave his associates behind, but now he found himself in a jam. 

“These stupid Faunus” he muttered under his breathe “don’t they understand the situation I’m in? If I don’t do well managing this mine out in the middle of nowhere, I’ll never be promoted to a better position!”

The reason Siemans had reduced wages and hadn’t sent for new equipment was because he didn’t want to look bad to his superiors, so he had started to funnel a large portion of the Faunus worker’s wages into purchasing new equipment to increase production. However, with the meager wages that they were paid, it would take months for him to gather enough to purchase the new equipment and make the necessary repairs. 

“And until then I’m stuck in his rat hole” thought Siemans “in the position of an unimportant mining director in the middle of nowhere. ‘sigh’ and now it looks like I’ll need to hire more guards to deal with those whiny animals and their little problems.”

He placed his right on his face and sighed. He was getting a headache again. He then turned back to his desk and pressed a button that would connect him to his secretary.

“Yes Mr. Siemans?” came a women’s voice from a speaker on the desk.

“Donna, have you already sent out those postings for new guards?” he said.

“Yes sir” replied the woman. 

“Excellent,” said Siemans “and I’m also going to need the usual. You won’t believe the day I’ve been having.”

“Yes sir” said the women “I’ll contact the chefs and the girls right away, everything will be ready in your room before you arrive.”

With that, the connection clicked off and Siemans sat back down in his desk. 

“Feeling agitated won’t help speed things up any more.” He thought “might as well just enjoy myself as I wait.”

He then stared out the window and smiled as he watched hordes of Faunus workers, wearing torn and ragged mining clothes, push cart after cart dust out of the mines. 

Outside the building Milton met up with the rest of the union members.

“What did he say” said a yellow-haired Faunus boy.

“Just as we expected” spat Milton.

“So I guess we got not choice now” sighed a blue haired Faunus woman.

“Yes” said Milton “I don’t like having to rely on those pacifist protestors, but they’re the best bet we got right now. Quincy!” called Milton.

“Yes sir?” said a young black haired Faunus boy.

“Call the White Fang.”  
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Two days later

“Come on boy!” shouted Byakko to the small shape dozens of feet below him. “Hurry up!”

“Hurry upping!” shouted Lan, who was dozens of meters below him. 

I was later afternoon and the two of them were currently scaling the side of the mountain, Byakko with the house on his back and Lan with his oversized backpack. Ignis and George were staying inside the house. Byakko and Lan had been climbing the cliff for half the day already, with Byakko stopping here and there to allow Lan to catch up. To help himself climb, Lan had equipped himself with his spiked metal gauntlets; Byakko of course had climbed with his bare hands. The group had just about reached the top at this time. Good thing too, because Lan had just about ran out of strength. 

“Umph, Ugh” grunted Lan as he grabbed the stones above him. Suddenly, he felt danger approaching him and jumped to the side just in time to avoid a small piece of smelly brown matter.

“George!” shouted Lan, “how could you?”

The little monkey chattered at Lan, saying that he wasn’t the one that threw it.

Lan looked up and wasn’t surprised to see Byakko holding the sceptic tank in his arms.

“Dodge!” shouted Byakko.

So for last 500 ft. of the cliff, Lan climbed upwards while avoiding the brown projectiles that rained down on him. He soon arrived at the top safely however, and while he was bent over wheezing, Byakko returned the sceptic tank to its previous position under the house (which could be easily attached and removed thanks to the way it had been installed by Rowan). 

“Look down below boy” said Byakko as Lan rose to his feet.

Lan did so. Spreading out below him was a town surrounding what appeared to be a giant furnace built into the side of the mountain. The town was constructed largely of steel, stone, and concrete, likely due to the lack of natural wood supply in the immediate area. Opposite the mine on the other side of town was what appeared to be a large landing area for aircrafts and near it was a pair of giant metal gates that appeared to lead outside. 

“Welcome to your new home for the next little while” said Byakko happily.

“It looks like things will be quite inter—“started Lan. He stopped as he noticed large structures on the stone cliffs that surrounded the entire town in a circle. Giant turrets each with dust energy lines flowing through them. They were most likely there to prevent any Grimm from entering the town. And sadly for Lan and co. the ones near them were all turning in their direction. They hadn’t fired before because Lan and Byakko didn’t look anything like Grimm, but from the looks of it they seemed like they were programmed to also fire at any unauthorized humanoids that came too close to them, most likely in case any unscrupulous individuals attempted to sabotage them.

“Oooh I wonder what kind things they’ll fire” said Byakko, raising his hand above his eyes while Lan’s jaw dropped and his face grew pale from fear. “Will it be missiles, laser beams, or some other dangerous thing?”

“Grandpa” whimpered Lan “can we run…Please?!”

“Ummmm” Byakko raised his finger to his chin and assumed a thinking pose. At that very moment the 3 turrets near them fired, shooting off a red, blue, and yellow orb.

“Ahhhh!” screamed Lan. He then dashed onto the porch, grabbed Ignis and George and attempted to run out of what he estimated to be the blast zone. He needn’t have worried. With a lightning fast movement Byakko shot out his tail, grabbed some stones, and flicked them at the orbs, causing them to explode before they reached the group. 

“Okay, we can run now” said Byakko as the turrets prepared to fire once more. With a laugh, Byakko grabbed the house, Lan, Ignis, and George and jumped off the side of the cliff. “We’ll be out of range of the turrets and free from danger as soon as we reach the ground!”

“Gahhhhhh!” screamed Lan as they began to accelerate towards the ground below “We’re in even more danger now!”

“We’ll be fine boy” said Byakko, as he shoved the boy, his backpack, and the two little animals into the house “As long as we have this, everything will be fine.”

Byakko reached into his gi and pulled out a small unremarkable rock. Byakko tossed it above himself, spun around until his face was staring off the ground and struck out with one of his feet at the little rock. Byakko vanished and reappeared at ground level a moment later, the little rock was completely pulverized. Byakko looked upwards at the descending house and lowered his stance. He then waited until the house was around a quarter of the way to the ground. Byakko then raised his palm upwards and tightened the muscles across his body while making sure to not accidently use too much strength.

“Byakko tiger style” he said, exhaling a small cloud of mist “Airforce palm!”

He thrust his palm upwards, which launched a wall of air upwards that crashed into the bottom of the house, significantly slowing its descent until it finally stopped 10 ft. above the old man’s head. Byakko then leapt upwards, grabbed the house, and landed on the ground with a heavy thump. He then set the house down and walked to the front door.

“Hello~~” he cooed “Is everybody okay?”

A few seconds later Lan crawled face down and on his stomach to the door. 

“I’m fine, although a bit tired” said Lan “but, it looks like Ignis vomited and…well let’s just say I’m glad I convinced George to wear a diaper.” 

“Good!” said Byakko smiling, “Because it looks like some guards are coming from the town to check up on this place. You do the talking. Grandpa’s gotta go inside and make himself look pretty.”

Walking past Lan’s limp form, Byakko marched up the stair to his room. The front door slammed shut as he did so, but a few moments later there was a sharp knock. Shakily getting to his feet, Lan grabbed the door handle and opened the door. Standing in the entryway was a group of security officers wearing the white Schnee security guard regulation uniforms, complete with a visored helmet. 

“Hello” said Lan weakly “Ugh, what can I help you with?”

The officer looked down at him, at the house, and then at the Cliffside.

“You jumped down from a cliff?” said the man after an awkward silence. 

“Oh no, not me” said Lan, waiving his hands. “That was my grandpa.”

“There are a lot of better ways for you to come in here than to jump off the cliff.” Said the guard. “You could have talked to the men positioned at the gates.”

“Yeah” said Lan, “But grandpa’s crazy like that. Sorry about wasting the ammo in the turrets.”

“That’s uh, quite alright son” said then man, scratching his chin “But might I ask what’s you’re purpose for coming here?”

“Oh,” said Lan, “Well that’s—“

“I’ll tell ya!” shouted Byakko who appeared behind Lan and put the poor child in a headlock. 

Lan looked up at his grandfather and noticed many changes. Byakko’s hair had grown longer and had completely hidden his tiger ears and his tail was nowhere in sight, most likely tucked into his pants. Now he looked just like, albeit much larger; harrier; and more savage looking, a normal human. 

“So this’s how he pretty upped.” Thought Lan. The boy understood that many humans held a strong dislike of Faunus. “He must have done some research on this town and prepared accordingly.”

Byakko reached into his gi and whipped out small poster, placing it in front of the man’s face. 

“We heard that this place’s guard is a little understaffed” said Byakko, smiling “and we thought we’d offer you fellas of two powerful new recruits!”  
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“Well, this is quite unexpected” said the guard, who was leading Lan and Byakko through the town. “I never thought more personnel would fall right out of the sky so to speak. And to bring your home with you? You’re just full of surprises.”

“Yes I am.” Said Byakko, grabbing a handful of croquettes out of a bag that he had bought and shoving them into his mouth. “And this is also good for you! Cause now you’ve got one of the strongest men in Remnant in your guard.”

“Sure thing” said the guard, chuckling “But how did you get the house down? Does it have a propulsion system or something?”

“Something like that” said Byakko.

Lan, Byakko, Ignis, and George were following the guard who they had learned was security guard captain Malcolm Kozlowski. After explaining to the guards their reasons for arrival, Lan and Byakko had been told to standby while Kozlowski phoned his superiors. After getting instructions from them, he told the group that he was to take them to the main office and would lead them through town. 

Lan looked left and right as they walked through the streets. The area looked a lot more industrialized compared to the small, humble towns that he had been used to and the large and looming visage of the giant mine building only added to Lan’s nervousness. He was currently holding a leash in both of his hands. One was tied to a collar around Ignis’s neck, and the other was tied around George’s waist. 

“Um, sir?” said Malcolm, turning to Byakko “Aren’t you going to change that soon.”

Malcolm was referring to the soiled diaper that was currently being worn by George. 

“As soon as we find a bathroom. Right Lan?” said Byakko.

“Yep” said Lan absentmindedly as he took in the image of all the pipes that were winding around the many many houses. 

“There’s one near the entrance of the main office building” said Malcolm “We’re almost there so—“

He stopped mid-sentence as he noticed something. 

“Crap, they’re back” he muttered under his breath.

Lan strained his ears and picked up what sounded like shouts of protests and chanting. The group rounded the corner of the street they were walking on and were greeted by a slightly perturbing sight. 

Surrounding the yard that led into the towering mine building that was built into the side of the mountain was a large 20 ft. tall wall made of concrete, and amassed at the front of the gate wall was a giant crowd of people that were waving signs that read “Faunus are people too” and “Not gonna fairly pay? You’ll be crazy if you think we’ll stay!” among other things. Many of them were wearing blue shirts that had what looked a white circle surrounding a white animal’s head.

“Sorry about this” said Malcolm “The White Fang arrived yesterday and immediately began protesting.”

“Hey!” said Lan recognizing the symbol “I’ve got some friends in the—“

Before he could finish his sentence, Lan felt his mouth get covered up by a large smelly hand. 

“Yep, the boy’s got some Faunus friends back where we come from” said Byakko, giving a smile in response to Malcolm’s confused stare. 

“Well then I guess he’ll like it here” said Malcolm, “This town’s full of Faunus. Come on” Malcolm walked towards a small side street “I’ll take you to the side entrance, that way we can avoid all those protesters.”

“Okie dokie” said Byakko, walking after the guard. 

Lan was about to follow, when suddenly he felt something like electricity run through his body. Turning his head, Lan stared into the crowd of White Fang protestors, his breath becoming increasingly heavy. His eyes fixed on a young feline Faunus girl at the back of the crowd. She had medium-length black hair, with a pair of black kitty ears poking out of her head. She was wearing a sleeveless light purple shirt, a black scarf, and a pair of black pants. She also had a white piece of cloth tied around upper arm. As she turned to the side and shouted along with her comrades, Lan also saw that she had amber eyes.

Lan was suddenly filled with a deep nostalgia. His foggy and unfocused mind drifted back to two years ago, back to the village of Cunctantem Cinere. It was as if he were dreaming, the world around him flowing and changing like a vat of multicolored mist. Why did that girl feel so familiar? Why did she fill his breast with this powerful attraction? It was then that he remembered a dream that he had long forgotten. The very same dream that he had seen after his aura had been unlocked. This vision of four bright lights, Red; White; Black; and Yellow, that shone far above him in the endless sky. 

The world around him fell away, and all of a sudden the two of them were the only things left there in a void of darkness. He took a step forward, his gaze fixated on the girl. He felt that he had to meet her, had to talk with her. 

But at that moment he felt a strong hand grabbed his wrist and pull him back into reality. 

“The heck you doin boy?” said Byakko “Come on, we’re gonna get left behind.”

Feeling as though he were half asleep, Lan wasn’t able to voice any opposition and was quickly dragged away by Byakko. But his vision remained fixed on the young girl until he was pulled into the side street and she disappeared from his sight.   
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“Greetings, so sorry you had to see that embarrassing spectacle down there. Would you like some refreshments before we begin our discussions?” 

The man speaking was a young man wearing a white suit, a pair of spectacles, and had neatly combed black hair. 

“I’d love some!” said Byakko.

He and Lan were currently sitting in the large and luxurious director’s office in the large office building next to the mines. Sitting across from them was the director of the mining operation, Tybalt Siemans. Ignis and George were currently sleeping on one of the couches in the room, George hugging Ignis in his sleep.

Mr. Siemans pressed a button under his table and a few moments later, a man and a woman wearing waiter outfits stepped in. The man was carrying a plate full of cookies, and the woman was holding a platter with a large pitcher of juice and two glasses. After setting them down on the desk in front of the three, the waiter quickly exited the room.

“Now” said Siemans “I heard that you two were interested in becoming guards here?”

“Yep!” said Byakko through a mouthful of cookies, which resulted in some food particles splattering onto the desk causing Siemans to flinch in disgust.

“Uh huh” said Siemans “Now I’m sure you know by now that we’re really short staffed. But please tell me why I should hire two ruffians such as yourselves who have no identification or work history.”

“One simple reason” said Byakko “Cause me and my boy can kick more ass then all of the guards in this place combined! Ain’t that right boy?”

Lan who was still coming out of his dreamlike state slowly nodded his head.

“Hmmm, is that so?” said Siemans. “Well, I guess it was impressive that you two were able to scale the mountains surrounding this town, not many people strong enough to do that, so I’m sure I can give you two some employment…for half the usual wage.”

“Oh no no no” said Byakko waiving his finger “If you want to hire premium warriors like us, you’ll have to pay us way more than you pay a normal guard.”

“Oh is that so?” said Siemans, smiling. “In that case.”

Siemans pressed a button under his table. A few seconds later a very large and muscular dark-skinned man walked into the room. He was wearing an armored version of the regulation Schnee security uniform, and a visored helmet. On his back was a giant cudgel.

“This is Marcus” said Siemans.

“Good to meet ya Marcus!” said Byakko, sticking out his hand in greetings. Marcus simply grunted and folded his arms. 

“Marcus is an ex-hunter and a lieutenant in the guard.” Continued Siemans, his expression smug “He is by far our most skilled fighter, climbing up the side of the cliff would be a piece of cake for him, and he’d easily be able to get back down without assistance, unlike your use of your home’s propulsion system.” At these words Byakko chuckled slightly. “Now, If you really think you’re as valuable as you think you are, you should at least be able to put up a good a fight against—“

With a lightning fast movement; a smile on his face; and without turning his head, Byakko launched a fist upwards that crashed into Marcus’s chin. The force of the blow launched the man upwards and sent him crashing half-way through the ceiling. A woman upstairs screamed as rubble rained down into the room. Siemans stared upwards, his mouth open and his eyes wide in surprise, at the pairs of legs hanging dangling from the ceiling.

“Did someone say fight?” said Byakko, his fist still in the air.

Siemans quickly turned to his computer to check Marcus’s vitals using the electronic systems built into the man’s guard uniform, and gave sigh as he discovered that the man was only unconscious. 

“W-well, sir, that, that was…well above my expectations” stammered Siemans.

“So our pay?” said Byakko, placing his chin in his hand, his arm on the armrest of his chair.

“Oh yes of course!” said Siemans, who quickly pulled out two contracts from one of the drawers of his desk. “How does 3 times the usual rate for you and ¾ the usual rate for your boy sound?”

“Hmmm, I think that’s a little low don’t you think?” said Byakko.

After a few more minutes of negotiating, it was decided that Byakko would receive 5 times the usual pay rate, Lan would receive 1.5 times the usual rate, and the both of them would receive an upfront signing bonus. 

“Now” said Siemans, scribbling in the details on two forms “I’ll take care of all the other bothersome portions of these contracts, you know weight; height; etc., but I will need to know both of your first and last names and how long you plan to work with us.”

“Byakko Muteki” said Byakko with a punch.

“And you my young friend?” said Siemans, with a charming smile.

“Oh I’m Lan…Uh.” Lan suddenly realized that he hadn’t been given a last name yet, so he decided he would just use his grandfather’s. But before he could answer, Byakko shouted.

“Zhihui”

“Lan Zhihui” said Siemans, writing it down “I see he is the son of your daughter then?”

“You know it!” lied Byakko.

Feeling slightly disturbed that his last name had just been made up on the spot; Lan sat back into his chair and scratched his head. 

“We’ll be working with you for around six months” said Byakko.

“Very well” said Siemans warmly. “Now I’ll just need both of your signatures at the bottom of these forms.”

After Lan and Byakko signed, showing Siemans that Lan had the better handwriting of the two, Siemans entered the information into the computer and stamped each of the contracts.

“Welcome to the force you two” said Siemans, getting up and shaking both of their hands. “As of right now, you two are employees of the prominent Schnee dust company.” Lan felt slightly put off by the man’s smile, feeling dark motives behind it, but shook the man’s hand anyway. “Now” continued Siemans “as official guardsmen you two will be provided free housing and utilities.”

“Can we just hook our house up to them utilities?” interrupted Byakko.

“Yes” said Siemans, smiling and nodding his head after a short pause. “Just pick out an empty plot of land in the residential area and I’ll send some men to make the connections. You’ll also be needing your uniforms.”

Siemans pressed a button under his desk and this time two attractive young maids walked into the room along with a man that looked like a tailor. 

“They will be taking your measurements” said Siemans with a smile. “Please don’t move around too much.”

The two maids began to take Lan and Byakko’s measurements while the tailor instructed them. Before they began, after taking note of their customers, the two had played a quick game of rock paper scissors. The loser of the match took Byakko’s measurements, her face contorting in disgust here and there whenever she caught a whiff of Byakko’s foul body odors. The maid in charge of Lan, however, did her job happily. Petting Lan on the head and pinching his cheeks while he stared at the ground, his face a deep shade of crimson.

After they finished they gave the information to the tailor, bowed, and left the room.

“We’ll be getting your uniforms to you tomorrow” said Siemans “And before you leave for the night, please take these.”

Siemans reached into a drawer and pulled out a guardsman manual, two schedules, and two long black metal batons with yellow dust veins running through them. 

Byakko frowned and grunted as he received the papers, tossing them to Lan a moment later. He then fixed his gaze on the two batons. 

“What’re these?” asked Byakko

“They are your standard issue shock batons” answered Siemans “One for each of you.”

“I don’t really use weapons these days” said Byakko, scratching his head.

“Can I have yours then” said Lan.

“Sure!” said Byakko. 

Lan then took the two batons and placed each of them into one of his pockets. Lan and Byakko then got up, exchanged some closing pleasantries with Siemans and left the room as Siemans yelled after them that they needed to report to the guardhouse at 8:00 the next morning.

As soon as they exited a large smile broke out across Siemans’s face.

“What a stroke of fortune!” he thought “To get such a powerful warrior just as those damn White Fang arrived and started hurting my profits and image. He’ll be able to crush any opposition those stupid Faunus protestors can put up and get those lazy laborers back to work. And, as an added bonus, with his abilities I can fire at least twenty of the current guardsmen to cut costs while he’s here.” 

Siemans chuckled to himself and pressed the button connecting him with his secretary.

“Yes Mr. Siemans?” said the voice through the intercom.

“I feel like celebrating tonight.” Said Siemans.

“The usual sir?”

“Yes.”

The connection cut off and Siemans walked over to the window.

“The heavens must truly be on my side.” He said under his breath. 

Six months were more than enough time for him to bring the mine’s production back up again, after which he was sure to promoted to a more lucrative position. He then pulled out his phone and made the arrangements to give his ‘saviors’ a pleasant stay. After all, tools worked best when well oiled.  
.  
.  
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“I don’t like that guy” said Lan as he and Byakko walked through the streets. 

The two of them were currently moving their belongings to an empty patch of land in the residential district. As a result they were attracting a lot of attention from the people around them thanks to the house that Byakko had strapped to his back. The two of them were having a quick snack that they had bought from a roadside stand while they walked and were enjoying the crisp night air.

“Yeah I know,” said Byakko, biting into a large piece of roast fish “The guy smelled like a mixture of corruption, self-importance, and shit covered in a thin sheet of gold. But for now he’s our employer, so we got a job to do.”

Lan grunted, popped some popcorn chicken into his mouth, and then threw some at Ignis and George who were on the porch of the house. As he walked Lan felt his mind wandering again to that girl he had seen earlier that day. Who was she and why did she make him feel so drawn to her? It wasn’t love though, the way he had felt about Alayna felt completely different than what he felt towards that Faunus girl. But it was just as, if not more powerful. Something within his very soul felt drawn to her and he had to find out why.

“White Fang huh?” thought Lan, “I’d better pay them a little visit.”

“Hey Lan, what you thinkin about huh?” said Byakko “Is it that little girl you saw earlier today?”

Lan’s whole body twitched and he turned to stare at his grandfather. 

“Don’t think I didn’t notice boy” said grandpa, a perverted look on his face “But don’t you think it’s a little early to be looking for a new girlfriend, especially after what happened last time?”

“N-no!” shouted Lan, who felt his face grow hot “That’s not it I-I—“

“Oh look!” interrupted Byakko “There’s the lot for our house and…who the heck is that guy?”

Standing in front of the house was a plump middle age man wearing a black suit. He had a rather rounded face, a small thick mustache, and a pair of round spectacles. However the physical feature that most drew Byakko and Lan’s attention was the large bald spot that the man had on the top of his head. 

“H-hello” he said bowing “My name is Katou Kenichi; I was assigned to be your personal assistant by Mr. Siemans.”

“A personal assistant huh?” said Byakko, setting down the house in the vacant lot. “These guys really pull out all the stops.”

“It’s obvious that we would” said Katou, with a weak smile “It wouldn’t be right not to give a man of your skills special treatment.”

Katou then pulled out a card from the inside of his suit and handed it over to Byakko. 

“Please call me if there is anything you need” he said with a smile. “But just not too late if you don’t mind. My wife gets angry if I’m called away from home at irregular hours.” 

He then bowed, picked up the briefcase by his feet, and hurried away.

“What did he smell like to you?” asked Lan after a few minutes.

“Like an overworked salary man who’s trying to keep his family afloat” said Byakko, “in other words, a good guy with a weak spirit.”

The two of them then went into their home, where they discovered a few workers already busy at work connecting the power and water. 

“How did they get in so fast?” thought Lan.

After they had finished Lan invited them to have dinner with them, and didn’t allow them to say no. Although they were reluctant at first, their reservations soon disappeared after they had their first bites of the sukiyaki that Lan had prepared that night. After saying goodbye to the workers, Lan read through the manuals and schedules, read through some books on some miscellaneous topics, and then settled down with Byakko to play some video games they had bought in the town. 

“Wow, you’re kickin my ass” said Byakko, as the muscular wrestler character he was playing as was thrown into a wall by the old man character Lan was playing as.

“I just memorized the move list” said Lan as he executed a complicated combo and KO’ed Byakko’s character.

“You ready for work tomorrow?” asked Byakko

“Already set my alarm” answered Lan.

After another half hour of gaming, the two of them turned off the console and headed upstairs. Lan went to the bathroom to shower and brush his teeth while Byakko simply gargled with his custom mouthwash (which was strong enough to melt through a normal person’s mouth) and quickly went to bed. As Lan headed to his room he heard his grandpa snoring through the walls and smiled.

He then headed to his room where Ignis and George were already sleeping on their respective bedding area, Ignis whimpering in his sleep while George hugged him. 

Lan then got into bed and turned off the lights. But even after the exhausting day, he still found himself unable to sleep. His mind kept returning to that girl and that dream that he had had all those years ago. What was the significance behind them? Why did they fill his heart with such longing? These thought flew through his mind late into the night until finally, his eyes could no longer stay open and he fell fast asleep. 

 

tell your friends about this tale if you like it.


	20. Chapter 20

Ch 20

“What the heck are you guys doing?!” shouted Milton, who slammed his right fist onto the table in front of him, which creaked under the blow.

“What do you mean ‘what are we doing’?” said a man sitting across the table from him “We’re doing what you called us to do.”

The two of them were currently in a dirty dark metal room in one of the White Fang airships. The room was lit only by a small light on the ceiling that sparked every once in a while. Milton was currently leaning on a thin wooden table that looked to be many years old. Across the table from him were two men, the leaders of the division of the White Fang that were currently stationed in Dust Hole. One of them was sitting on a metal folding chair while the other was leaning on the wall, his hands in his pockets. The man sitting in the folding chair was a wolf Faunus that appeared to be in his early 20’s, with long dark green hair that almost reached his neck. He was wearing a Red Indian headband decorated with fangs, a brown leather vest on top of a red t-shirt, a pair of long black pants, and some brown shoes. The features that showed the man was a Faunus was the pair of small ears perched on the top of his head, the fang’s that slightly protruded from his mouth, and his feral eyes. The man was very well-muscled and looked like he had seen his fair share of fight. His most striking feature however was his hard, soul piercing black eyes which were enhanced by his angry scowl and the long scar on his face that ran diagonally from his right temple to the left side of his chin.

The other man’s features were obscured by the darkness that permeated the room.

“What I called you to do is to convince that idiot director to treat us better and give us fair wages.” Shouted Milton “Not stand in front of the mines so we can’t get in and work!”

“Why should you work for that damned human that treats you like pack animals?” answered the green haired Faunus.

“We don’t get paid our daily wages if we don’t work!” shouted Milton “Do you want to let your own people starve?”

“The White Fang has been handing out ration packs.” said the green haired Faunus.

“There aren’t nearly enough to get us through the day!” shouted Milton. “We’ve had to dig into our emergency savings for food and are still going to bed with empty stomachs!”

“Hey, if you get back to work there’ll be no motivation for that sleazy Siemens to meet your demands.” Said the green-haired Faunus, “he’ll just come up with excuse after excuse to keep you working in the mines and churning out his profits.”

“But if we don’t get back to work we’ll starve to death!” shouted Milton

“Wouldn’t you have slowly starved to death anyways thanks to the low wages he set?” said the green haired Faunus, who was beginning to lose patience at that point.

“That’s the reason we called you guys” yelled Milton “You were supposed to fix this! Negotiate with the higher ups and get some results!”

With a growl the green haired Faunus stood up and seized Milton by the collar. 

“Listen here buddy. You called us here to fix your problems and that’s what we’re gonna do.” Milton coughed as the green-haired white Faunus tightened his grip and began to strangle the old man. “If you want things to get better here then read those damn instructions we sent you and start contributing!” 

The green haired Faunus then released the old man’s collar and pushed him forward, causing the man the stumble backwards. Then, with fear in his eyes, Milton ran to the door on the opposite side of the room, opened it, ran out, and slammed the door behind him. The green-haired Faunus then sat back down in his chair, covered his eyes with one of his hands, and groaned. 

“With a leader as spineless as that, no wonder things are so bad here.”

“Um, don’t you think you were a little hard on him Jirall?” said the Faunus behind him.

“Daylen, we both know that as long as their profits are untouched, those damn Schnee businessmen won’t budge an inch” said Jirall with a sigh “As long as those idiot workers keep going to the mines and earning their master’s profits, things will never change.”

“Jirall!” said Daylen, stepping out of the shadows “Don’t insult our people like that!”

Daylen was a tall skinny wolf Faunus with short spiky green hair and a kind face. He was wearing green and brown robe that reached all the way down to the top of his shoes, brown leather boots, and a pair of brown leather fingerless-gloves. 

“Brother” said Jirall, “Our ‘people’ in this valley have already been broken. When we first came to this town I could see the lifelessness in them in a second. Barely surviving every day, most of them have given up on everything except earning the money for their next meals. People like that aren’t our family, they’re slaves to their human masters. We lived in even worse conditions while we were growing up, but we never let our spirit die and we always kept our dreams alive. That’s how we got to where we are now.”

“The leaders of a branch of the White Fang” said Daylen.

“Yes.” Said Jirall. “If only mother could see us now.

A few moments of silence passed between the two before someone spoke again. 

“Are the preparations going well?” asked Jirall.

Daylen sighed.

“I did as you asked brother, but I really think you should reconsider. The leader—“

“Has failed to get us results” interrupted Jirall. “There hasn’t been any big success in years. That’s why we have to take matters into our own hands……How long?”

“We should have everything we need in a few months” said Daylen, sighing and scratching his head. 

“Good” said Jirall, getting up “Then for the time being we continue as we were instructed by our ‘wise leader’. Come on Daylen, it’s time to give our men another speech.”

Jirall marched towards the door and, after giving a rueful sigh, Daylen quickly followed. The metal door closed behind them with a loud bang and the light on the ceiling clicked off, leaving the room in total darkness.  
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“Lan” said someone gently into his ear.

Lan grunted and shifted around in the bed.

“Lan~~” came the voice again.

Lan’s consciousness we beginning to surface now and he suddenly felt that he should get out of the way before--.

‘Whack’

Lan was slapped across the face and forced back to the waking world.

Lan sat bolt upright and blinked, his eyes still heavy from sleep.

“Huh whuh?”

“Ah, awake now?” said Byakko, who was standing over the boy. 

Lan turned his head and looked at the alarm near his bedside. It read 6 o’clock in the morning.

“Grandpa” said Lan, slightly annoyed “What are you doing, we don’t need to wake up for work for another hour.”

“Actually, we do” said Byakko, pulling Lan’s naked form out of the bed and setting him down on his feet “I just realized that there’s most likely going to be a changing room in the guard house.”

“Yeah, and?” said Lan.

“This would be a problem” said Byakko, dropping his pants and waving his tail in front of Lan’s face. “I can cover up my ears with my hair, but this would be a dead giveaway. So, I need to be using one of my special secret aura techniques and I need you to help me.”

“Okay” said Lan, yawning and rubbing his eyes “What do you need me to do?”

“Just close your eyes and stand very very still,” said Byakko.

Too drowsy to feel any suspicion, Lan did so. He then felt a large hand on his head and as his grandfather let out a large breath Lan felt a strange sensation come over him. It was as if his very soul were being pulled towards the point of contact. He sensed it as motes of his residual essence were slowly plucked out of his spirit and then all of a sudden, it was over. Lan opened his eyes and stared at his grandfather whose hand now glowed a dull blue.

“This will do” said Byakko, nodding. He then placed the glowing hand on his chest. 

His body glowed a dull blue and Lan watched, wide eyed, as the ears on top of Byakko’s hair shrunk and disappeared under his hair, his tail retracted into his behind, his hair became slightly darker, and other small changes formed all over his body. Byakko then took his palm off his chest and smiled.

“That there was what I like to call spirit copy” said Byakko, who shifted his body to get a feel for his slightly different form “It’s a secret skill old Meng taught me, he called it something different, that lets me take on characteristics from the person I use it on. I’m gonna use your human essence to repress my Faunus essence whenever we’re at work.”

“Wow” said Lan, blinking “That takes ‘walking a mile in their shoes’ to a whole new level.”

“There are some drawbacks though” said Byakko as he reached into his hair and scratched his now extremely small tiger ears. “If you don’t train yourselves to resist the spiritual traces that cling to the essence you absorb, you gain some personality elements of the person you got the essence from. Luckily, I did do that training, so don’t worry boy, my personality hasn’t changed even a little bit.” 

“Can you teach me that?” said Lan who was now getting dressed “I want to see the world through a Faunus’s eyes.”

“Sorry, no can do” said Byakko, as he reached into his pants to check his posterior region. “I ain’t good at teaching them complicated spiritual things, you need Meng for that, I’m just good at teaching how to kick serious ass! And speaking of asses” Byakko turned his back to Lan, bent forward, and dropped his pants. 

“Look! Look at my tail.”

Where Byakko’s long tiger tail had been, there was now a small hairless nub that vibrated back and forth.

“It’s like a little boxer tail!” said Byakko, laughing “Go on and touch it boy.”

“Uh, I’m good” said Lan, taking a step back with his hands raised. His mind was fully alert now, because from prior experience he knew that it was never a good thing when Byakko pulled down his pants. 

“Touch the little boxer tail” ordered Byakko, who stepped backwards a few steps to bring Lan closer to the nub. 

“Oh would you look at the time” said Lan, glancing at the clock “we got to get to the guard quarters.”

He then bolted out the door of his room, pulling on his shirt as he went. As he reached the top of the stairs leading down, he heard a crash from the direction of his room and turned to see his grandfather running backwards down the hallway in his direction, his hairy rear end pointed right at Lan.

“Touch the little boxer tail!” shouted Byakko.

“NOOOO!” shouted Lan, who ran down the stairs.

He turned left and headed into the living room, but the moment he did so Byakko crashed through the wall that separated stairs and living room, which had just been fixed after he had smashed through it the last time.

“Touch it!” shouted Byakko as he leapt towards Lan, ass-first.

“Grandpa!” shouted Lan, who barely avoided him “Please, I don’t want to touch anything near your ass! I need to cook soon!”

“So just wash your hands after!” said Byakko, who had begun running after Lan again.

“There exists nothing that can purify my hand after touching you’re smelly rear!”

“Baahahahahaha” laughed Byakko.

The chase continued for a full five minutes before Lan finally managed to find an open path that led it to the front door. 

Lan threw the door open but stopped in his tracks.

“Good morning sir” said Mr. Kenichi with a warm smile “Will you be requiring any assistance with—“

“Touch it!” shouted Byakko.

Realizing what was about to happen, Lan prepared to dart to the side, but then realized that Mr. Kenichi would take the brunt of the assault if he did. Quickly making his decision, Lan pushed Mr. Kenichi into the street and prepared to run after him, but too late.

‘Wham’

Byakko’s giant form crashed down on top of Lan ass-first, crushing the boy under his giant pantsless bulk. 

“Feel the little boxer tail” said Byakko, laughing. He then looked up and saw Mr. Kenichi, as well as the many bystanders on the street, who staring at him with shocked and slightly disgusted faces. 

“Sup” said Byakko, standing up.

“Um, Good morning sir” said Mr. Kenichi “W-would you like some help with your pants?”

“Naw I’m good” said Byakko, pulling up his pants. “So whatcha here for Kenny boy?”

“Um, assistance?” said Mr. Kenichi with a forced smile.

“Oh” said Byakko, “We’re good, just getting ready for work is all. Come on in and join us for breakfast!”

“Oh uh no” said Mr. Kenichi, waving his hands “I couldn’t—“

“Don’t be shy!” shouted Byakko, grabbing the man’s face “We got plenty of food, and it’s fresh! I hunted and gathered it all a few days ago.”

He then looked down and Lan’s face-down form. 

“Get up boy, we got to prepare breakfast.”

Lan grunted and slowly got back up to his feet. Rather than stay on the ground and be forced to stomach his grandfather’s lethal cooking, Lan decided he that he would ignore his current pain and get to it. So after he covered his entire body with disinfectant spray, Lan prepared a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs, making sure to prepare it quickly so that Byakko wouldn’t get impatient. After eating breakfast in the rather awkward mood, which Byakko ignored, Lan went upstairs and gathered together the things that Siemans had given them yesterday. 

When he came down, he found Byakko changing George’s diaper and Mr. Kenichi standing nervously by the open front door.

“A-are you ready to leave sir?” said Kenichi, eyeing the…colorful old diaper that Byakko had placed on the floor.

“Yep.” Said Lan, who placed the papers into his backpack, which he then hoisted onto his back, and the stun batons into the pockets of his shorts. 

“Very well” said Mr. Kenichi “Please follow me.”

“Come on little fellas!” said Byakko to Ignis and George, “We got a job to do!”

Byakko then seized a surprised Mr. Kenichi around the waist and tucked the man under his arm. 

“Point the way!” shouted Byakko, who then blasted down the street like a wildebeest, whipping up the wind around him to gale force levels. 

Lan sighed and placed his hand on his face. 

“And he’s supposed to be the mature one?” said Lan.

Lan then put on Ignis and George’s leashes and left the house with them in tow. He turned his head to the right, nodded, and followed the obvious path of destruction towards the mines.  
.  
.  
.  
“Please, let us get past.” said a skinny black-haired Male Faunus.

“Why do you insist on working for that parasite?” shouted a White Fang protestor. “You barely get paid anything while he gets to live in luxury!”

“But we receive our wages daily after work” said a wrinkled Faunus women “If we don’t clock in and do our work we can’t buy food.”

“Our ration packs—“started A man who seemed to be a leader of the protestors. 

“Aren’t nearly enough!” shouted a Faunus boy that appeared to be in his late teens “There are way too many of us for those to feed!”

“We received information from your union leader on the number of oppressed Faunus here and have prepared as much as our budget could allow.” Said the leader with a sigh. “We ask that you all be patient. Once they’re pocket books are hurting enough the director will--”

“We’ll starve by then!” shouted an old woman “We need to get in an work or—“

Suddenly people screamed as the sound of gunfire filled the air. A few seconds later six security guards appeared and came between the two groups. 

“Alright people break it up!” shouted the guard that appeared to hold the highest rank, he placed a smoking pistol back into its holster with a click “Workers, the gates are opening now so go on through and do your jobs. And as for you White Fang” the guard rounded on the leader of the group “Stop blocking the gates and let the workers through.” 

The guard’s voice was laced with menace, but the Faunus leader just stood there calmly and looked him straight in the face.

“Not until your superiors agree to pay these men fairly for their work.” Said the man. The rest of the White Fang members cheered as he said this. An angry scowl appeared on the guardsman’s face and he reached down towards the stun baton at his waist, the other guards followed suit. 

“I’m giving you till the count of three.” Said the guardsman, quietly. “One.”

The Faunus leader turned his head back towards his fellow protestors and quickly mouthed “Don’t fight back”. The people behind him, although looking quite nervous, nodded their heads. 

“Two” continued the guard.

The leader of the group turned back and faced the guardsman, his face resolute.

“Three!” shouted the guard. He and the rest of his guardsmen whipped out their batons and, with a crackle of energy, switched them on. The guards then began lashing out at the Faunus nearest them, each blow yielding a spark of electricity as well as a cry of pain. Most of the people struck immediately fell to the ground, unable to move. Those who were able to handle the first blow soon found themselves struck over and over again until they finally collapsed. The leader of the group of White Fang was one of the first to fall, but the rest of the group stood their ground despite the pain that they knew was coming. Soon the guards had gone a quarter of the way into the group, stepping on those that had fallen as they went. The Faunus workers stood behind the guards, trembling with fear as they watched their brethren fall. They knew this was wrong, they knew that it was completely inhumane. But they knew how the guardsmen would respond if they spoke up, so they tried their best to hold themselves back and continued to watch the guards brutally beat the brave men and women.

Unable to take it anymore, a boy no more than 10 years old burst from the crowd, avoiding his mother’s frantic attempts to drag him back. He then ran up and grabbed one of the guardsman’s arms.

“Stop!” he cried, tears flowing down his face “Just stop!”

“You little shit.” Said the guard angrily, raising his baton “Let go!”

The guard brought the baton down on the young boy, who closed his eyes as the weapon neared his face. But the blow never came.

‘Wham’

Before the guard had finished the movement a large stone came sailing through the air, smashed into the side of his helmet, and sent it flying off his head. The man then collapsed onto the ground, knocked out cold. The other 5 guards stopped their assault and stared in the direction of their fallen comrade.

“Hey!” shouted the lead guardsmen “Who threw tha—“

Before he could finish, five more rocks whizzed through the air and crashed into his and the other guards’ helmets, knocking all of them unconscious as well.

The crowd turned their heads backwards to find the source of the stones and found themselves staring at an extremely large and hairy man wearing a black gi and holding what appeared to be a terrified office worker under one of his arms.

“Whoohooo, success” said Byakko with a punch “Violent offenders subdued.”

“Those weren’t offenders!” shouted Mr. Kenichi, his voice high-pitched with panic “Those were your fellow guardsman!”

“Really?” said Byakko, staring down at Kenichi. He then squinted at the 6 incapacitated guards, nodded his head, squinted again, and then gave a humph. 

“You sure? They look like guards but they sure as heck weren’t acting like them.”

“I am quite sure” said Mr. Kenichi as Byakko set him on the ground. 

“Oh,” said Byakko “Sorry about that!” he yelled at the unconscious guards. “Are they okay boy?”

“Yep” shouted Lan. The crowd turned to the young boy that had seemingly come out of nowhere and was now checking each of the guards. “Their helmets protected them from most of the damage so they should be fine in a few hours.” Lan then stood up and turned towards the now confused White Fang protestors, while the monkey and wolf that were with him proceeded to poke, grab, nibble, and even urinate on various parts of the guards’ bodies.

“Can I check on your guys too?” said Lan.

The group of protestors slowly nodded and Lan went around examining the incapacitated members, applying CPR, with a bamboo pipe he always carried with him of course, and some basic acupuncture when needed. The crowd of workers slowly parted, allowing Byakko and Mr.Kenichi to walk through. While Lan worked on the incapacitated White Fang members, he looked around again for that dark haired girl he saw the other day, but after 10 minutes of searching he was unable to find her.

“Um, excuse me” said Lan towards one of the White Fang protestors.

“Yes?” said the man.

“Um, I remember seeing a black haired feline girl here yesterday. Is she sick or something?”

The man scratched his head and then answered.

“All of the active members in this town are here except for the group leaders back at the airship” said the man. “but a lot of us go back and forth to different areas depending on how much manpower is needed. Some of our members left yesterday on airships to participate in other rallies, she may have left with them.”

“Oh” said Lan, his gaze downcast “Okay.”

He was disappointed that he couldn’t see that girl again, but as he continued to work on the other unconscious White Fang members he slowly regained his enthusiasm as his mind focused more and more on the task at hand.

“These guys okay?” asked Byakko, as Lan continued checking on them. 

“Well, the ones I’ve treated so far are okay” said Lan “But a lot of them started out in much worse condition then the guards you knocked out. Got hit with some serious voltage.”

After finishing up the check up on the last White Fang member, Lan checked the guards’ stun batons and found that they had been set at a setting much higher than the maximum allowed energy setting stated in the guardsmen manual. Lan then turned to Mr. Kenichi.

“Tell Mr. Siemans that these guards have been abusing their weapons privileges” said Lan “They must be relieved of duty.”

“Actually” said Mr. Kenichi, looking up at Byakko and swallowing “They were uh, given express permission to use higher settings by the higher ups.” Mr. Kenichi saw Lan’s eyes narrow “This is a very far out of the way town” he said quickly “They have the right in case anything, uh, unexpected happens.”

Lan stared at him for a few more moments and then shook his head.

“I’ll have to have a talk to Mr. Siemans later”

“Yes.” Said Mr. Kenichi with a sigh “you do that.”

“Well that takes care of that!” said Byakko as Lan helped the White Fang move their unconscious members off the street. “Come on everyone, let’s go to work.”

“Just wait one minute.” Said a blonde haired female protestor “We decided that we wouldn’t move until the higher ups here agreed to improve the living conditions and wages of these people. After having so many of our men fall, do you really think we’re just going to move out of the way?”

“Hmmm good point.” Said Byakko, scratching his chin. He thought for a few seconds then spoke again. 

“So none of you will move from your spots?” He said.

“no” said the woman.

“Won’t take your feet off those specific pieces of concrete?” Said Byakko.

“No” said the woman slowly, who was beginning to sense that something was wrong.

“Great!” shouted Byakko who then bent down and slammed his fingers into the concrete. “Then compromise is easily reached!”

With an earth-shaking crunching noise, Byakko slowly pulled and lifted the street apart, flipping two giant cement slabs as if he were opening a giant door in the ground. The White Fang members in front of them screamed as the ground underneath their feet quickly grew steeper, causing them to fall onto the sides of the street. When Byakko finished, there were two giant cement slabs on both sides of the street forming a path that led up to the gate of the mines. Mr. Kenichi’s mouth stood agape while the works behind them stood shocked into silence. The members of the White Fang on the opposite sides of the cement walls/slabs groaned, but were mostly unhurt.

“Come on!” said Byakko, waiving in the direction of the mine. “We got work to do!”

 

The jubilant old man then ran forward and through the gates leading into the mining courtyard, Lan and his little friends close behind. After a few moments the workers turned to look at each other, shrugged, and followed, all of them wondering what the heck just happened.  
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From a pop-up hollo-screen connected to his desk, Mr. Siemans watched the events that took place in in the square from a camera mounted on the wall. He scowled as he watched his guards beat down the White Fang, knowing that it could lead to the mine receiving the wrong kind of attention from the news media, he would have to fire those guards later. But he smiled as he saw Byakko subdue the guards and Lan treat all the people that had fallen, with that he could save face with the media by praising his ‘newly hired guards’, push all the blame onto the ‘violent guards’, and only do some minor damage control by padding some of the right pockets. It would also slightly weaken the some of the support for the White Fang’s activities if he could show that their arguments about the Schnee company’s inhumane policies were unfounded since Schnee company security guards ‘protected them from violence’ and removed them from obstructing work without causing them undo harm, his superiors would be quite pleased with that. He was also stunned as he saw Byakko split the earth to form a path to the mines, and was then filled with pride as he thought ‘that man is my employee’.

“Hiring those two really was a great investment” said Siemans, pressing a button which turned off the screen and sent it back into his desk. Once again, he felt like celebrating and reached for the intercom to call Donna.  
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“This is where you’ll be assigned” said Mr. Kenichi.

“The whole cavern?” asked Byakko.

“Yes.” Said Mr. Kenichi.

Byakko whistled as he stared at the stone walls gently sloping upwards until they disappeared into the shadows above.

After he and Lan had entered the mining courtyard, they had been escorted into the mining shaft by Mr. Kenichi. They had boarded an elevator that brought them into an underground area with muggy damp air that was lit with lamps here and there. After traveling through a series of maze-like passages lined with what seemed to be broken conveyor belts, they had come to the vast cavern they were in now, which had walls perforated with natural dust deposits and was lit with lights surrounding the whole area. Also, lining the walls of parts of the room were multiple pipes that led to the surface and were designed to bring fresh air into the area, but from the muggy damp air that perforated the area, they were obviously severely clogged.

“I thought it might be a good idea for both of you to learn the way to get here” said Mr. Kenichi “even though you have a map it’s always a good idea to tread the path yourself.”

“I hear that!” said Byakko, clapping the man on the back and causing him to fall flat onto his face.

Lan and his little animal friends looked this way and that around the caver, taking in all the sights including the mining cart tracks and the wires along the walls.

“Well then” said Mr. Kenichi, rubbing his nose “If you two could head back up, you’ll be able to follow the guards that are heading to the changing room.” He then reached into his suit and pulled out two keys and a small communicating device “These are the keys to your lockers and communicator in case you need to contact me about anything.” He said as he handed them to Lan, who he now knew was the more trustworthy of the two. “Your new uniforms are already inside the lockers. Now I’m afraid I must take my leave, those accounts in the office won’t organize themselves.”

Then with a bow, Mr. Kenichi walked back into one of the tunnels and disappeared from sight. 

“Shall we get a move on?” said Lan, as he pocketed the keys and communicator. 

“One sec” said Byakko, who was staring around the room. He walked over to one of the air pipes and stared into it. A second later he grabbed it, took a deep breath, stuck it in his mouth, and blew into it. Lan heard the entire pipe system rattle and shake, and then a few seconds later he heard something explode far above them. Byakko removed his mouth from the pipe, stared into it and smiled. A gentle breeze was now wafting in from the pipes and rejuvenating the air in the cavern. 

“That’ll do.” Said Byakko, turning back to Lan, Ignis, and George “Come on boys let’s go back up.” 

As the four of them walked back through the tunnels to the elevator, far above them in the office building in the mines, Mr. Siemans had turned on his intercom and was now yelling at his secretary Donna. Asking why 100 pounds of sludge had smashed through the window of his private room while he was enjoying himself with the girls.  
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“New uniforms” sang Lan, as he pulled the folded set out of the locker. 

He and Byakko were currently in a large white locker room, along with the rest of the guards. Byakko and Lan had just opened their lockers, which were side by side, and removed their guardsmen uniforms. As Lan placed his on the bench behind him, he noticed a small package in his locker. Removing it, Lan read the note on top, it read: ‘For your little friends’.

Lan unwrapped the package and found two strap-on guardsmen hats, which he then put on a jubilant Ignis and George. He then began to remove his clothing. 

“Ahhhhhh!” sighed Byakko, “Nice to have the gi off once in a while.”

“Then why don’t you bathe more often” said Lan, who was trying hard to avoid the stink coming off the old man’s form. “then you can be in your tidy-whities more often.”

“I don’t wear tidy-whities!” shouted Byakko rounding on Lan “I wear fundoshi! The warrior’s underwear!” He gestured to the black cloth garment around his waist.

“It was just a figure of sp—“ started Lan.

“And guess what boy!” interrupted Byakko, who completely ignored Lan. He reached inside his locker and pulled out a similar garment. “I had one made for you too! Now take off them skinny briefs!”

Before he could run, Lan was grabbed by Byakko and had his underwear stripped right off. The other guards were staring at them at this point.

“Now let grandpa show you how to put it on!” shouted Byakko.

Lan screamed and struggled as Byakko slammed in on the bench and began to put on the undergarment, Lan screaming and struggling as Byakko made mistake after painful mistake while putting them on, each mistake followed by a ‘nope that’s not it’ from Byakko and a yelp of pain from Lan. The guards around them burst out in laughter at this point, further adding to Lan’s embarrassment.

After the deed was done and Lan had donned the ‘warrior’s underwear’, Lan put on his uniform in silence and said nothing as Byakko tore the sleeves off of his uniform before putting it on, the tailor would be most displeased by that. The two of them then left the rest of the guardsmen and followed the flow of miners, who now had their pickaxes in hand, to the elevator leading down into the mine shaft. The two of them then crammed themselves into one of the elevators filled to the brim with miners. As the elevator slowly descended, the Faunus workers gazed fearfully at Byakko as they recalled what had happened earlier that morning. Once they arrived at the lower level, the workers branched off in different directions, each group heading towards the cavern they worked in. Many of them seemed surprised as they walked down the stone halls, noting that the air was much clearer than it used to be. 

Lan and co. followed the group of miners that were working in the same cavern as them. As they arrived they found many Faunus already hard at work, swinging their pickaxes into the stone and loading the deposits into mining carts. Lan and Byakko stood there staring at them all for a little while before Lan finally spoke.

“So, what are we supposed to be doing now?” asked Lan.

“Stay vigilant and put down any signs of trouble.” Answered Byakko.

The two of them stared at the scene for another few moments.

“Doesn’t look like there’s much trouble going on.” Said Lan “Except for maybe the obvious signs of malnutrition, exhaustion in the workers, and the shoddy equipment.”

“Yep!” said Byakko “Do you know what that means boy?”

“Training time?” said Lan.

“Training time!” shouted Byakko.

The old man grabbed Lan and the little animals and threw them towards the center of the room, which was mostly clear of debris and tools. Lan angled himself and landed on his feet, quickly catching Ignis and George before they crashed on the ground. 

“The usual exercises!” shouted Byakko, “500 reps each!”

Lan nodded and dropped down and started doing push-ups at a speed much faster than you would expect a normal person to be capable of. 

“Ignis, George!” shouted Byakko. The two little animals snapped to attention. “Wrestling match.”

The two little animals then dove at each other and began wrestling, going in a circle around Lan as they went. The some of the miners watched this, grinning slightly as they saw the boy’s enthusiasm. But suddenly a loud clang sounded throughout the room, along with an old man’s curse. 

Byakko and Lan turned in the directions of the sound and saw an old man clutching his cheek. A trickle of blood was seeping out between his fingers. At his feet there was a broken pickaxe. Byakko signaled for Lan to keep on training and ran over to see what was going on. 

“You okay?” asked Byakko, bending down and looking at the old man.

The man looked up, slightly confused. 

“Um, are you referring to me sir?” said the man. 

“Uh, yeah.” Said Byakko “There weren’t any other people crying out in pain. Let me take a look at that.”

The old man slowly removed his hand and exposed a deep gash under his lower cheek bone. Surrounding the wound were small pieces of rust that obviously had come from the piece of iron that had broken off from the pickaxe. Byakko nodded, reached into his uniform and pulled out a bottle of spray, an anti-bacterial wipe, and a bandage. 

“These the right things for this Lan?” asked Byakko, who turned his head towards Lan. Lan nodded as he did his push-ups. Byakko then turned back to the old man. He ripped open the wrapping of the wipe and cleaned the old man’s cut. The old man winced as the cleaning agents in the wipe touched his wound. Byakko then sprayed the wound with the bottle, causing the man to wince again, and placed the bandage on afterwards.

“There you go” said Byakko, standing up “All better.” 

The old man simply stood there and stared at Byakko. He obviously wasn’t used to such treatment from a guard. 

“Well, as for your pickaxe” said Byakko, bending down and picking up the broken tool “We’ll have to get you a new one. Do you have any spares?”

The old man shook his head.

“Each of us only had one.” He said quietly. “And when one breaks we must replace it with our own money.”

“Well that’s no good” said Byakko, tossing the tool at Lan who quickly avoided it. “Hmmm.”

Byakko thought for a second, and then his face lit up. He walked over to the broken rusty pickaxe and picked it up the part that still had the handle attached. He then peeled the rust off the surface of the iron with his bare hands and bent the metal back into the shape of a pick.

“Here you go” said Byakko, tossing the pickaxe to the old man “the pick’s a little smaller than normal, but it’ll do for the rest of today. Stop by our house tonight and we’ll see about fixing it up or gettin you a replacement!”

The old man could hardly believe what just happened and gave a heartfelt word of thanks before returning to work. The other miners in the area were also began whispering among each other as they worked. The hours went by without incident after that until lunch finally arrived, with Lan just finishing his basic exercises in time. Lan, Byakko, and the little guys started to leave, intent on getting to the mess hall before the lunch rush packed it, but stopped as they watched all the workers sit on the ground and open up small lunch pails, many of which contained nothing but a few crusts of stale bread.

“Oh yeah.” Thought Lan “Underpaid Faunus labor.”

He looked up at his grandfather who had a “seen this shitty stuff many times before” kind of look on his face. 

“The refrigerators back at home seem to be little full.” Said Lan, off-handedly.

“Yes” said Byakko, “I believe they are.”

“But it would be such a shame to just throw all those fresh ingredients out.” Said Lan.

Many workers were now staring in their direction confused looks on their faces.

“Yes it would” said Byakko “So just cook them up and let’s have them for lunch. But then again even I couldn’t finish all of that myself, so if, oh let’s say, a few of our co-workers wanted to share in the meal then I would be more than happy to indulge them.”

Many of the workers were now staring at each other, hopeful expressions on their faces.

“How fast can you get it back here boy?” whispered Byakko

“I’ll do the cooking” whispered Lan “You do the delivering.”

With that the two of them blasted out of the room, a small wolf pup biting down on the hem of Byakko’s pants and a small monkey holding onto the collar of Lan’s shirt. Within minutes, the two of them were back up to ground level and in front of their house. Once there, Byakko pulled out a giant push cart out of one of the closets in the house and set in front of the main entryway while Lan ran to the kitchen and lit the stove. He then pulled an enormous pot, which was normally used to cook Byakko’s meals (Barely a tenth of what he could eat of course), out of the cupboard, filled it with water, and threw it on the stove. To heat it up faster he threw in a can of fire dust powder and threw on the lid to contain the resulting explosion and heat. With the pot boiled, Lan threw open one of the refrigerators and pulled out lots of meat and vegetables that he quickly sliced up into very small pieces so they could cook faster and threw them in the pot along with some well-chosen spices. He then threw in another can of dust so that the soup would cook even faster, as well as blow the pieces of meat and vegetables into smaller particles. While the soup cooked, Lan heated up the skillet and cracked dozens and dozens of eggs onto it which he loaded onto a giant lid once they were fully cooked. Slamming a lid down on the plate of eggs, Lan checked the clock on the wall and saw that fifteen minutes had elapsed since the start of lunch hour, they had forty five minutes left before lunch ended and the rest of the guards got back. The soup still needed another two minutes, so Lan filled several coolers with water for the workers to drink and placed them along with the plate of eggs on the cart behind Byakko. The soup gave whistle, signaling it was done. Lan ran to the kitchen and after opening the lid and smelling the steaming liquid, he put the lid back down and attached clamps to the sides of the lid so that the soup wouldn’t spill. He then grabbed some ladles and moved the soup onto the cart as well. Lan gave Byakko a thumbs up and, with a roar; the old man took off speeding down the street towards the mine. Once they arrived at the mine, they loaded the food onto the freight elevator and rode down with it to the bottom. Once they reached the bottom, they quickly wheeled the cart back to the cavern that was now filled with more Faunus than before.

“Good that they got the word around” said Byakko, smiling. He then dashed around the room, checking all of the open lunch pails and fixing, by squeezing them shut, any holes he found. He then gave a thumbs up and Lan whipped the lip off the soup and the cover off the eggs. The room filled with the delicious smell of high quality soup and many of the Faunus there found their mouths watering. Like a stampede of wildebeest, the Faunus workers ran towards Lan, holding their metal lunch pails in their hands. The moment the first person arrived, he found that his pail had already been filled halfway with the soup and had an egg floating in it. With lightning fast movements, multiple ladles, and a smile on his face, Lan quickly served every Faunus in the room. The workers didn’t have spoons, so they simply sipped the hot liquid out of their lunch pails, many of them sighing in satisfaction at finally receiving a good meal after a long time. Of course since the workers were accustomed to eating very small amounts, even with so many in the room they weren’t able to finish all the soup, but that was fine with Byakko who chugged the rest of it and devoured the remaining eggs. After they had eaten, many of the Faunus came up and expressed their thanks, making the young boy blush and the old man laugh. Lan checked his watch at this point and found that there were only 10 minutes left in the lunch period.

“That’s plenty of time for me to run to the mess hall and devour every last scrap of food they have left.” Shouted Byakko.

“Save some for us!” shouted Lan, who had Ignis and Lan clinging to his back.

The four of them dashed to the lunch hall where most of the guards had already finished eating and stunned the whole room by eating more than the rest of the staff combined.  
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As Lan and Byakko signed off that evening they were greeted and thanked by the workers, many of whom were wondering if they would be serving lunch daily. Byakko gave a deep laugh at this and replied with a loud “Why not?!” and Lan made a mental note to wake up extra early to cook. The two of them were in a very good mood as they began to walk out the gates, but stopped as they noticed a group of workers arguing with an accountant at the pay counter. 

“This is even less than what we were told!” shouted one of them. “Where’s the rest of our pay?”

The women looked up from the logs she was reading and answered in a nasally voice. “Mr. Siemans clearly stated that wages would rise and fall in tandem with weekly production. Production has dropped since last week so wages drop as well.”

“But it’s already dropped!” said a man, whose face was extremely desperate “It’s been dropping ever since our equipment started failing, equipment that your superiors should have replaced!”

“The new equipment will arrive in time” said the woman “Until then you’ll have to make do.”

With that she pressed a button on her side and a metal shield slid down over the window of the counter. Many of the Faunus workers looked angry, but decided to drop it once a few guards appeared out of the shadows brandishing batons. As they walked away, many of them grumbled angrily and a few spat on the ground.

“Hmmm” said Byakko scratching his chin “Overall production huh?”

He then picked up a stone and threw it to Lan, who quickly caught it. 

“Punch it to pieces” said Byakko.

Lan did so and shattered the rock in a single blow. As Lan looked up, he noticed a large smile spreading across Byakko’s face.

“I know what training you’ll be doing tomorrow” 

Lan knew as well, and smiled. Ignis and George looked at each other slightly confused. The four of them then walked out of the gates and headed back home, Byakko’s stomach grumbling and Lan pushing the cart with the empty pot, plate, and coolers.  
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Later that night.

“They’re late brother” said Daylen, checking his watch. It was 2 o’clock in the morning.

Daylen and Jirall were currently standing at the edge of the aerial landing area, leaning against some metal cargo crates.

“They’ll be here” said Jirall, who had his arms folded “They have reputation to keep after all.”

“Indeed we do” said a soft voice.

The two of them whipped around in the direction of it and found a cloaked man standing right behind them, his face completely obscured by his hood.

“How did—“started Daylen.

Jirall raised his hand and stopped Daylen. 

“Masters of secrecy remember?”

“Just so” said the cloaked man. He then moved his cloak slightly and revealed a small crate by his feet. He then kicked it over to Jirall. “Your order.”

Jirall reached into his shirt and pulled out a small knife. With a fluid motion, he sliced through the nails holding the lid, lifted the top, and peered inside. A small grin appeared on his face and he put the lid back down. He then reached into his robe, pulled out a good deal of Lien, and handed it to the hooded man.

“How long until the rest arrives?” said Jirall.

“The entirety of your order should be here in a few months” said the hooded figure.

“Perfect timing” said Jirall, picking up the crate.

“Might I ask what you pacifists need this much firepower for?” said the man.

Jirall laughed and turned his back on the man.

“What was your group’s motto again” he said.

“Secretly done with no questions asked” said the hooded man.

“Stick to it” said Jirall, turning back. But the man had already vanished, swallowed up by the darkness of night.

“Are you sure we’re doing the right thing?” said Daylen after a moment of pause, “Just think of the lives that will be lost!”

“And many more will be lost if we don’t act” said Jirall, “the world needs to realize that we can’t just be pushed around, so the sooner we drop this pacifist bullshit the better.”

The two of them then walked back to their airship, the crate held tightly in Jirall’s arms.

Here’s the beginning of Lan’s first taste of the darkness in the human soul, it’s sure to be a thrilling event. Note that the White Fang is still a peaceful organization during this time period, which is currently 11 or 12 years before the start of RWBY. 

Once again, thank you all for supporting me by reading this and please give me any reviews of the story so that I may improve my skills and please pray for me in my attempt to get this story noticed by the RWBY crew (and hopefully absorbed into the main story).


	21. Chapter 21

Ch 21

Over the next two weeks, word of Lan and Byakko’s kindness quickly spread throughout the Faunus workforce causing many of them to come and seek assistance from the new guards. Because of this, Lan and Byakko were even busier than before, with Lan helping to repair broken equipment and Byakko having to make frequent trips out of the town to gather ingredients, with Lan advising him on where to gather to avoid causing ecosystemal problems. Also, with Lan’s help with the mining, mostly involving the boy punching the walls, which resulted in his knuckles becoming quite callused, and some of the workers gathering what dropped, the production of the mine slowly increased. This was of course, done in complete secrecy. Lan always did his punching in areas where the cameras couldn’t see him, and he quickly disengaged whenever a guard approached, usually being warned by Ignis or George who acted as lookouts. As a result of their efforts, the wages of the workers also began to increase, but not as quickly as they had fallen of course. 

Lan and Byakko also became the ones that were assigned to handling the White Fang, often talking with the protestors and clearing paths here and there. For example, when White Fang protestors had laid down next to the Schnee company run town store and prevented any workers from shopping there, since it was the only place in town that the workers could get supplies with their meager wages, Byakko tore out a large chunk of road and stuck it into one of the building’s windows so that the workers could go in and buy supplies. 

“So the money ends up back in their pockets anyway” sighed Lan after the deed was done.

“Suck it up boy” said Byakko at the time, “we’re under contract right now.”

Because of incidences like these, the White Fang members went out of their way to avoid the areas that were usually patrolled by the two of them. Lan also grew increasingly suspicious of corruption in the Schnee company office due to constant flow of high quality ingredients, expensive alcohol, entertainment devices, and overly…friendly women that were constantly heading to the top of the office building as well as the many gifts that Mr. Siemans was sending to them for their ‘excellence in work’ which included new entertainment devices, books that Lan was interested in, and the occasional bottle of expensive alcohol for Byakko. 

With work, helping out the Faunus laborers, and his academia and training, Lan quickly passed the first two weeks of living in the town, during which he became more…cultured due to the manga sold in some of the stores and the HD television channel that Mr. Siemans had given to them. Luckily, Lan knew how to prioritize and was able to finish his work, training, and studies before turning towards these sources for entertainment, Byakko being ready to rip Lan away when necessary also added to the boy’s diligence.

Starting his third week on duty, Lan thought he knew what to expect, but this day would be much different than all the others.  
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“Hmmm, what would be good today?”

Lan was currently in the kitchen and was looking through one of the refrigerators. As he went through the contents he gave rueful.

“Deer meat” said Lan, looking at each ingredient in turn “Boar meet, rabbit meat, squirrel meat, butte--, oh wait that’s fat.”

Whenever Byakko was left in charge of getting ingredients he would never bring back anything except meat because the old man had very little knowledge of local edible wild plants and fungi. On the few occasions that Lan had asked Byakko to bring back some greens and mushrooms, the old man had succeeded in bringing back only poisonous varieties. Lan would have gone himself to gather the vegetation and fungi, but the boy was unable to sneak out of the city like his grandfather could. Not only would it he have to expend a good deal of his energy and time to scale the walls, he would also have to make it past the turrets on the mountains surrounding the town. So, Lan had been forced to buy the vegetables from the local markets initially. He had put forth his best agricultural effort though, assisted by many Faunus workers that also wished to become self-sufficient, by starting a community garden in the center of the Faunus living quarters. The seeds they had planted however, had only been planted a week ago and had yet to sprout.

“So there’s going to be meatvalanch for quite a while.” Thought Lan, “I hope those workers’ arteries can handle this.”

Lan began to pull out a large slab meat, he had decided on making kebabs today, but at that moment the doorbell rang. 

“Meat!” snorted Byakko from upstairs, still fast asleep in his room. 

The sound of thumping also filled the house as Ignis and George raced to the front door, each determined to be the first to meet the new company. Wiping his hands on a towel, Lan headed to the front door, reached up to the handle and opened, making sure to keep Ignis and George back. Standing there was Mr. Kenichi, looking even more tired than usual.

“Hello Mr. Kenichi” said Lan, giving a wave “What brings you here this fine morning?”

“New orders from Mr. Siemans” said Mr. Kenichi, who handed Lan a paper folder with a gentle smile on his face “Instead of your usual duties, you and your grandfather will be attending a, uh, special meeting today. Please arrive at the destination specified in the folder by 8:00. Details on the meeting are in the folder.” Mr. Kenichi then looked at his watch sighed and then looked back at Lan. “Well, I need to be heading to another meeting soon, good luck with your task. It’s an important one.”

Mr. Kenichi looked down at Ignis and George who were staring at him through the gap between Lan’s legs. 

“Hello little ones” he said. “Have a nice day. He then turned to leave but Lan quickly stopped him.

“Um, are you okay Mr. Kenichi?” said Lan “You’re looking really tired.”

 

“Oh, uh. Yes! I’m fine” he said, stumbling slightly as he turned back to address Lan. “It’s just that Mr. Siemans has had me working late last night organizing for—“

He stopped as he noticed Lan’s wide-eyed expression staring at the ground to his right. He followed the boy’s gaze and his vision came to rest on a black mess that looked like a wig upon closer inspection. Mr. Kenichi reached his hand to the top of his head and sighed.

“You’re bald!” said Lan.

Ignis and George thrashed violently behind Lan’s guard, each hoping to claim the item.

“Yes” said Mr. Kenichi, picking up the wig and dusting it off “Yes I am.”

“Stressful work?” asked Lan.

“Mmmm.” Confirmed Mr. Kenichi as he placed the wig back on his head. He turned to leave again.

“You know Mr. Kenichi” said Lan, “If there’s anything you’d like to talk about, anything at all, I’d be more than happy to listen, we can talk over some juice and some of grandpa’s vintage.”

Mr. Kenichi paused for a moment and then smiled.

“I’d like that” he said as he walked away “I’d like that a lot.”

Mr. Kenichi then walked down the street, Lan watching the man as he went. 

“Look out!” someone shouted.

A second later, a cart filled with brown packages burst from a side ally and crashed into Mr. Kenichi, knocking him to the ground and spilling its contents all over the street. A moment later, a young Faunus boy ran out of the alleyway, his face extremely panicked. 

“Gah, I’m sorry!” he said, as he dashed over and helped Mr. Kenichi to his feet. “I-I lost control of the cart and—“

“It’s alright.” Said Mr. Kenichi, dusting himself up. He then looked down at the packages. “White Fang food packages” he said.

The Faunus boy suddenly looked nervous.

“I-I know we’ve not been instructed not to take anything from them but—“

He stopped as he watched Mr. Kenichi bend down and help pile them back into the cart.

“I understand” he said while doing this. “You guys have enough food problems as it is, and don’t worry, I’ll keep this a secret from the higher ups.”

A look of relief spread across the boy’s face and he began to pick up the food packages as well. After they finished, the boy bowed and said some more words of thanks to Mr. Kenichi before pushing the cart away, heading in the direction of the worker living quarters. Mr. Kenichi then picked up his briefcase and headed back towards the office building. 

“What the heck are those Schnee people thinking?” thought Lan “That guy should be the one in charge here.”

As If understanding his thought, Ignis and George both gave a grunt of approval.  
Lan then closed the door and went back inside. He placed the folder on the living room table, and then went back into the kitchen to prepare breakfast while Ignis and George returned back to their bed in Lan’s room to continue sleeping. As always, Lan heard the crashing banging sound of Byakko’s awakening the moment the scent of the cooking meat traveled upstairs. A few minutes later the old man came down and sat down at the seat in front of a plate stacked to the ceiling with roasted meats. Lan sat on the opposite side of the table with a plate of bacon, eggs, sausage, and toast while the kebabs roasted in the oven. After finishing the meal Lan informed Byakko of their new orders. As always, Lan took care of the paper work and read through the folder while Byakko snuck upstairs to violently wake up Ignis and George. 

Lan read through the report first and discovered that the two of them were to meet with the local White Fang leaders to discuss the behavior of their subordinates. The meeting place was marked on a map, one of the White Fang airships docked at the landing area at the edge of town. The folder also came with a list of instructions as well as the names and pictures of the two leaders, Jirall Remus and Daylen Remus, twin brothers who had risen through the ranks together. The instructions explicitly instructed Lan and Byakko to not give into any of the demands made by them and contained a list of responses to the questions that could possibly be asked. Lan also found another handwritten line on the back of the instructions page that brought a frown to his face. It was Mr. Siemans’s curly handwriting and said:

If the White Fang become a little too violent, please use the recording device in the folder and bring it a little later, I’ll be more than happy to reward you for your services. 

P.S. You can rile them up yourselves if you’d like. My friends in the editing room will personally make sure that you two won’t be blamed for anything.

Lan blinked, read the letter again, and sighed.

“Typical” he thought, ignoring the sounds of Lan and Ignis screeching and whimpering as they ran down the stairs.

A moment later Byakko appeared by the boy’s side and sat down next to him. 

“So, what’s out objective hmmm?”

“Meeting the local White Fang leaders for Mr. Siemans” said Lan.

“Oooh finally going to meet the youngun’s?” said Byakko “Ahhh that brings me back, you know I was a founding member of the organization.”

“What!?” said Lan, his head shooting up “You never told me that!”

“Yeah well, I was kinda keepin a low profile at the time. Was just a regular grunt worker, and made my mark on the organization from the shadows... ninja style. Nobody there ever knew about the things I did. ”

“Tell me about it some other time.” Said Lan, sighing “We got a job to do now.”

The instructions said to wear casual, so Lan donned a t-shirt, shorts, and his traveler’s cloak. Byakko donned a large Hawaiian shirt a pair of black shorts and sunglasses.

“Isn’t that a too casual?” said Lan.

Before the two of them left, Lan called one of the Faunus workers, a cheerful old man named Oswald, to help distribute the kebabs that Lan had made as well as look after the little guys, he didn’t want the two of them screwing up the negotiations pissing off the wrong people. 

After Oswald came and took over, Lan and Byakko headed towards the airfield. As they walked, Lan went over possible conversation topics in his head. This would be quite a delicate opposition, and from what he could tell, the White Fang leaders in this division were much more aggressive than normal. He checked his watch and found that they still had around an hour until the 10 o’clock meeting, so Lan thought he would get some snacks to share with them. He quickly popped by the bank where he withdrew some lien for the snacks while Byakko deposited a whole jar of free lollipops into his mouth. 

Lan then bought two baker’s dozen of good quality doughnuts from a nearby bakery shop that was frequented by the Schnee company employees, making sure to keep them as far away as possible from Byakko’s gaping maw, as well as two chocolate caramel lattes for the Faunus leaders, a black tea for himself (he preferred tea unless the coffee was a high quality brew made with excellent hand-picked beans), and a XXXX large coffee bucket for Byakko. The goods there were far too expensive for any of the workers to buy, which made Lan a little bit ashamed as he carried the doughnuts out of the shop.

 

Lan arrived at the air field with 10 minutes to spare, over encumbered as he was with the drinks and pastries. Lan quickly found the airship due to the large White Fang symbol painted on its side. As he and Byakko neared it he noticed a large group of White Fang members wearing suits standing in front of the sloped pathway leading into the ship. One of them stepped forward and ordered Lan and Byakko to stop. She was a woman with long fuchsia hair, a pair of kitty ears, and a long fuchsia feline tail. 

“Sorry, no civilians allowed” she said.

“We were sent by Mr. Siemans” said Lan, his face blocked by the food he was carrying. “We’re security guards!”

The woman narrowed her eyes and then spat on the ground. 

“That slimy man was supposed to come here himself!” She said angrily “And he sends an old man and a little kid? This is also supposed to be a formal meeting. Couldn’t he have even bothered to have his grunts dress nicely before he sends him to insult us?”

“Oh, sorry” said Lan, peering through a crack in the snacks “The instructions he sent us said to dress casually.”

“Why I oughta—“started the woman. A man next to her stopped her and whispered into her ear. She nodded and turned back to Lan and Byakko.

“So you two are the ones who have been given our members so much trouble.” Said the woman.

“We’ve never hurt them.” Said Lan.

“Yeah, but you’ve been making our work a lot more difficult. Tell me, how does it feel to get paid big bucks by your ball of a boss while you prevent us from helping innocent Faunus?”

“Quite crappy to be honest!” said Byakko “He’s a corrupt *************” Byakko covered Lan’s ears as he said the word so Lan wouldn’t be able to hear “that could do well to have an iron spike shoved up his ass!”

This statement caught many of the protestors off guard and caused a good number of them to give snort of laughter. The side of the woman’s mouth twitched and some of the resentment disappeared from her eyes. 

“Well if that’s the case why are you working for him?” Said the woman.

“To get my boy here some job experience” said Byakko “But it’s been kinda depressing with all the corruption we’ve seen. I really don’t like the guy. Hate his guts and that but-kissing business smile of his. I plan to give his as a good kickin after our contract expires, isn’t that right boy?”

Lan gave a nod from behind the pastries. 

“In fact” said Byakko, pulling out a large rubber ball made from multiple rubber bands “First thing I’m gonna do is castrate him with these rubber bands using a method I learned from a cattle rancher!” 

A round of laughter came from the group and the woman chuckled. 

“Well, that’s good to know.” She said, walking forward. “Dirtbag would finally get what he deserves….You two are alright, every other guard is two worried about their paychecks to badmouth the guy, but we still gotta check you two for bugs and weaponry before you go in.”

“Oh here you go” said Lan, tossing the device that Siemans had given them to the woman “Mr. Siemans wanted us to use this.”

“Make sure to give it back though” said Byakko “I’m gonna turn it on while I’m on the toilet tonight and give it to him the next morning!”

Another round of laughter came from the group, which quickly turned to screams terror as Byakko dropped his pants to, uh, aid in the searching process. After pulling his pants back on after being told many times by disgusted guards, Byakko was quickly patted down. Lan’s food was checked while he was patted down using chemical analyzers and after they were found to be clean they were returned to him. Lan also gave one of the guards the stun batons, explosives, and sling that he was carrying. 

The woman then pulled out a communications device and talked with some people for a few minutes before nodding, switching it off, and turning back to Lan and Byakko.

“Your clear to go” she said “Just hope you’ll be able to get something productive done.”

“Me too” said Lan.

“The name’s Megan” said the woman, extending a hand to Byakko “Good to meetcha.”

“Likewise” said Byakko, returning the gesture. 

“The meeting room is at the end of the hall on the right” said Megan. “Don’t go into any other doors.”

“Not even the bathroom?” asked Byakko, stressing the last word.

“Not even the bathroom.” Said Megan, calmly.

Chuckling Byakko walked into the ship, followed closely by Lan. The hallway they walked through was dimly lit by glowing strips that lined both sides of the floor. They arrived at the designated door after a few minutes.

“Kinda rusty” said Byakko as he grabbed the handle “Don’t they got enough money to keep this place in shape?”

He pushed the door open and the two of them entered into a dimly lit room, its furnishings almost completely hidden in the shadows. At the other end of the room was a sturdy looking wooden table and sitting on the other side under the light were two Faunus that Lan recognized as the leaders Jirall and Daylen. Daylen was sitting with has arms politely folded on top of each other on the tabletop, while Jirall was leaning forward with his elbows on the table and the tips of his fingers pressed together in front of his face. 

“Gooday!” shouted Byakko, raising his hand in greeting.

“Hello.” Said Daylen, a pleasant smile on his face. Jirall simply narrowed his eyes.

Lan walked forward and set the pastries and drinks on the table.

“A little snack while we talk” he said. 

Lan and Byakko then sat down on wooden chairs at the opposite side of the table and stared across the table, large smiles on their faces. Daylen timidly gave a smile of his own. Lan opened the box of donuts and removed a chocolate covered cream donut and bit into it, taking a large suck from his tea as he did. Byakko pulled out a chocolate glaze and took a long chug from his giant coffee. 

“So” started Byakko “about all them protests.”

“They won’t be stopping” interjected Jirall “and they will continue until our demands are met.”

“It’s not likely with that pig-headed Siemans sitting at the top” said Byakko. “He’s got a good idea on how to get the most out of his workers while giving them as little as possible, plus he’s good at making the workers hate your intervention as much as they hate his policies.”

“Yes” said Daylen “But there have been signs of progress. From the rumors I’ve gathered throughout town, Siemans’s superiors have been contacting him frequently. They aren’t pleased about all the attention this place is getting.”

“Yep” said Lan “I checked through the database and found that Dust Hole has some of the worst Faunus working conditions out of all Schnee company owned mines because it’s so far out of the way. All you need to do is get a good newsperson here and the company’s approval rating could take another dive.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be saying things that would help your boss?” said Jirall.

“We are” said Byakko, “but he won’t know what we say unless someone tells him otherwise…unless of course this room is bugged…is it bugged?”

“No” said Daylen.

Jirall stared at them for a few seconds and then snorted in disgust.

“So, trying to earn our trust huh?” he said, getting up and walking to the back of the room where a water dispenser was placed, ignoring the coffee on the table. He pulled a plastic cup, filled it, and returned to the table, taking a sip. “You really think it’s going to be that easy you lien hungry human dogs?”

“Uh, Jirall” said Daylen “Don’t you think that’s a little—“

“No, it’s fine” said Lan, as he watched his grandpa pick up finish the first box of doughnuts by shoving his face into it. “It’s understandable that you’d be suspicious of us. You have to be careful of what you say in your line of business after all.”

“You are quite precocious for your age” said Daylen.

“I get that a lot” said Lan with a smile. “Someone’s gotta be the mature one in my family.”

“And that’s the way uh huh uh huh I like it!” boomed Byakko, giving two thumbs up and a huge toothy grin. 

“If you understand” said Jirall, “Then unless you plan to improve their conditions like we asked, we have nothing else to talk about.”

“Come on” said Lan “you won’t help anyone if you prevent them from earning their living.”

“Living?” said Jirall, venom in his voice “You call that living?” he stood up and glowered at Lan “They work in the dirt all day in squalid conditions and barely get paid squat! They go home to their decrepit living areas each day with barely enough to keep their families from starving and afterward collapse onto their beds from exhaustion only to start the process over the next morning! What’s more, they don’t have the means to fight back against this! They have to take every insult, every abuse, while you humans just watch from the sidelines. It’s this way for thousands and thousands of Faunus all over Remnant!”

“Mr. Remus” started Lan “I understand where you’re coming from but—“

“Understand?” shouted Jirall, “Understand!? How could you humans ever understand how we live our lives?”

“But we know life’s hard for them” said Lan “That’s why we bring them lunch every day and—“

“Oh!” said Daylen with a smile “So you two are the guards that have been providing meals, you know that’s really nice of—“

Jirall slammed his palm down on the table, cutting Daylen off. 

“They don’t need their charity” spat Jirall “What they need is a change.”

Daylen puckered his lips and sat meekly back into his chair. 

“And it will come” said Lan “just give things some time and sure that—“

“Shut up kid!” shouted Jirall, startling Lan, “A little kid who has no idea how the world works has not right to lecture me!”

“Hey!” shouted Byakko, narrowing his eyes “Don’t take out your frustrations on my boy!”

“Frustrations?” laughed Jirall “I’m just telling this kid the truth. As things are now humans will never respect Faunus enough to treat them as equals, that’s why we have to take a stand and try to make a difference. People like you will never have known what we went through, what it was like to have all those condescending gazes looking down on you as if they were looking at animals!” Jirall fixed Lan and Byakko with an intense stare and then sat back down in his chair.

“We all know that we won’t get anything done here” he said with a sigh as he placed his right hand over his eyes “Just leave.”

Lan looked back and forth, not knowing what to do when he heard his grandfather start chuckling. 

“Actually boy.” Said Byakko “I know quite well what our kind has gone through.”

Lan then noticed a white light begin to emanate from Byakko’s body.

“Did you not use spirit copy today?” asked Lan.

“Forgot to this morning.” Said Byakko as the ears on his head popped out.

In a matter of seconds, Byakko took on his normal bestial appearance with his long tiger tail, tiger ears, and feline eyes.

The two men across the table stared at him, wide-eyed. Daylen’s mouth was hanging open and his right eye was twitching slightly. Jirall’s eyes were wide with surprise and the hostility within them had been replaced with shock. Daylen was the first to speak.

“H-how” he started.

“You know those racist business people wouldn’t be comfortable hiring a Faunus” said Byakko “so I hid my heritage using one of my secret aura techniques!”

“You’re a Faunus.” Said Jirall.

“And one that’s been around the block many more time than you kids!”

Daylen smiled and was about to say something when Jirall raised a hand and stopped him. 

“If you are a Faunus.” Said Jirall, “Then why are you working for them.”

“Job experience for the little guy” said Byakko, “plus, after learning more about the guy, we plan on taking out the Siemans fella.”

“You’re gonna kill him!?” said Daylen, alarmed.

“No!” shouted Lan.

“But we are going to get him fired” said Byakko, “I know that corrupt uncaring guys like that usually have a lot of dirt to be dug up, so me and Lan just gotta be the shovels that do so.”

“But he’s paying you—“ started Jirall.

“To guard the mines and make sure the operation runs smoothly.” Said Byakko, “contract didn’t say anything about us having to support his dirty little ass, isn’t that right boy?”

Lan nodded.

“So…we’re allies?” said Daylen.

“Yes.” Said Lan.

“How can we trust you?” asked Jirall.

“You can’t” said Byakko “But as long as you keep your guard up around me you won’t lose anything.”

“Sounds fair enough” said Daylen “Brother, we can give them the benefit of the doubt can’t we?”

Jirall stared at Byakko for a full minute and then slowly nodded. Lan let out a loud sigh and then pushed the coffee and doughnuts towards Daylen and Jirall.

“Seal the deal with a meal” said Lan with a smile.

Each of them, including Lan and Byakko, reached into a box, removed a doughnut and picked up their drink. 

“To change!” shouted Byakko.

They all tapped their doughnuts together and then took a bite.  
.  
.  
.  
For the next few hours that were scheduled for the meeting, the four of them chatted about how they would work together, as well as many random things. But when I say four, I really mean three because Jirall simply sat there and brooded while Byakko constantly attempted to strike up conversations with him. It was quickly established that Lan and Byakko would deliver any information they found to Jirall and Daylen so that the two of them could quickly disseminate it where it was needed.

During one of the casual conversations, Daylen was quite surprised to discover that Lan was a close friend of Momonga Cranndarach, who was a veteran leader of a division of the White Fang.   
Also, a friendship was quickly established between the cheerful young boy and the mellow young man as they got to know each other, especially after their brief conversation on Faunus rights. The friendship between jovial old man and broody young man never even started, since Jirall replied to all of Byakko’s conversational topics with a low grunt. 

It wasn’t long before their scheduled meeting time was over and they had to say their goodbyes. They all shook hands and agreed that they would all tell everyone that the meeting went just as they everyone expected it too, peacefully with no progress whatsoever. Lan also promised that they wouldn’t mention anything that they talked about in the report that he would write.

“See you later Daylen” said Lan “Come over and play sometime!”

“Sure” said Daylen “If I have the time.”

Lan and Byakko then exited the room, smiles on their face. Bur as they walked down the hall towards the exit, Byakko’s ears perked up for a few minute and then he gave small sigh. 

“What’s wrong grandpa?” asked Lan.

“Oh, nothing” said Byakko, ruffling Lan’s hair. “Come on, I need to do spirit copy before we leave the ship.”

After doing so, Byakko and Lan walked outside into the afternoon sun and headed back towards the mines to finish up the work day after reclaiming their articles from the White Fang members that waited outside.  
.  
.  
.  
1 week later

‘glug glug glug’

Byakko downed another giant flagon of ale, slammed it down on the table and let out an enormous sigh.”

“Ahhhhhhh!”

Lan sat beside him, sipping a cherry cola.

The two of them were in a small dingy bar in the depths of the Faunus living quarters. Byakko often went there to drink instead of the high class bar in the office building.

“Company’s much better here” he had said.

Due to their excellent reputation among the Faunus workers, they weren’t given any trouble, in fact the first time they had come to the bar, the customers had given them a happy welcome and had given them two of the best seats at the bar. The bartender was especially happy since Byakko bought more drinks then the rest of the customers combined. The alcohol there was of course cheap swill, especially since it was funded only by workers’ meager wages, but Byakko was able to appreciate it as much as the high quality alcohol he usually drank. Lan of course only ordered sodas and juices since he was underage, but he was still able to make his time there more enjoyable by jamming out an upbeat jazz tune on the piano once in a while, cooking something tasty with the available ingredients, or chatting it up with the workers. 

Tonight however, he sat alone with his grandpa at the bar while Ignis went around begging for food scraps and George practiced his throwing skills by throwing darts at the dart board with some other patrons. Between the two of them was a green cardstock invitation. After the two of them had arrived home one evening, they had found Mr. Kenichi waiting there for them. The man had given them a piece of cardstock. Apparently, Mr. Siemans’s birthday was coming up that weekend and a party was being thrown in the ballroom in the basement of the office building. Lan and Byakko had been invited because of how well they were doing their jobs. It honestly made Lan sick to think of the money that man would pump into this event instead of into the hands of the more needy, but then again this provided them with an opportunity. 

A few days ago, Lan had removed Mr. Siemans’s special logbook from his desk while the man was busy conversing Byakko. Lan had discovered that the book contained many codes, as well as information on additional keys and items, that were used to access the building’s security system and network. The boy had quickly copied them all down and replaced the book back on the desk before Siemans had noticed. 

The party gave Lan and Byakko the perfect opportunity to find the incriminating information that they needed to bring the man down and get him replaced with a more sympathetic director. They knew where the most likely place for such information to be was, a special safe hidden in the bookcase in Siemans’s office that the man had shown off to them one day. Byakko and Lan also had access to information on the many active security systems since they were members of the guard as well as a detailed map of every floor of the office building and to get into the areas that they didn’t already have clearance for, they had already devised a way to sneak the master security card from the guard captain, a portly man by the name of Aurelius. After they had gotten past everything and had gotten the documents in their hands, they planned to pass them on to Jirall and Daylen who had already been alerted about the plan.

“So, I’m the retriever?” said Lan quietly as Byakko pounded down another giant mug.

“Yep” said Byakko after letting out another sigh “I’ll be the distractor.”

“You’ll also need to turn off the security system from the main security room” said Lan “after I get the key from Aurelius, I’ll find a place to hand it to you before I head towards Siemans’s office.”

“This’ll be the first time you run espionage boy, are you sure you can handle this?”

“I’m sure” said Lan, as he thought back to all those times that he had to sneak past/away from Byakko to avoid certain unpleasant situations. He was always caught of course, but then again Byakko’s instincts were more sensitive than the most advanced security systems in Remnant. 

“We’ve got three days until the party” said Byakko “Anything you need to prepare for?”

“No” said Lan, “I’ve already finished researching the targets.”

There were quite a few men and women that had the key cards that Lan needed to get passed certain doors that would be locked at the time of the event and could only be opened with those specific key cards. He had begun learning about their personalities, so that he could give Byakko better advice on how to distract them at the party so that he would be able to steal them more easily and return them afterwards without the third parties noticing. 

“And I’ve finished making my preparations as well.” said Byakko, another mug in hand “All that’s left is to wait for the day.”

“Hey Lan!” shouted someone from the crowd. Lan turned his head and stared at the group of amicable people. “Think we can get a tune?”

Lan smiled and then hopped from his chair. 

“Coming right up” he said. The boy then walked to the piano at the corner of the room and began to play a piece that he had recently learned, it was written by Edgar, and was ironically named ‘Calm before the Storm.”

Well, that’s ch 21 done… You know guys, I feel like my writing hasn’t been as good as before lately. Have I been pacing the story okay? Do I move the plot to slowly? Are the topics of each arc too boring? Are Byakko’s cruel and stupid antics still making you laugh?

I really would appreciate some feedback, at least to know that I’m not doing badly. The last thing I want to do is trip and fall down into the spiral of mediocrity…so yeah, reviews would be nice. Also, do any of you guys have any good ideas on how I can get this to a larger RWBY audience? That would make my goal more realistic.

P.S. A like and follow by those who haven’t would also be appreciated.

P.S.S This story continues until Lan is 18 or 19 years old to give you all a heads up on the length it will be.


	22. Chapter 22

Ch 22

The day of the party

Lan straightened his tie and stared into the mirror. He was wearing a black tuxedo with a dark blue inner shirt and a striped tie. Also, for the formal event he had donned a pair of black leather shoes for the first time since the ball back in Little Root.

“Alright” said Lan, nodding his head in satisfaction.

He then turned to Ignis and George who were lying on the bed. 

“You two be good now” said Lan “because if I find anything broken or dirtied I’ll sick grandpa on you.”

Byakko’s head smashed through a boarded up portion of the wall. 

“Sick me on what?” he asked. “I’m ready!”

“Later” said Lan, taking up a hammer, boards, and nails that were in his drawer while Ignis and George huddled together, shivering in the corner of the bed.

Lan then boarded up the hole again once after Byakko pulled his head back into own his room. 

Once he finished, Lan walked to a small bag lying by his bed and opened it up. Inside were a variety of tools that he would be using in the espionage tonight. He went over everything one more time, checked their functionality, and read up on the blueprints of the building. 

The front door to his room banged open. Byakko stood there wearing his wrinkly tux. 

“Ready?” he asked.

“As I’ll ever be” said Lan.

The two of them then walked down the stairs, Lan’s bag slung over his shoulders. Before they left the house, Byakko went to the kitchen and grabbed a large pot filled with something and held it under his arm. The invitation said that they could bring a dish to the party if they wanted.

“This gonna work?” asked Byakko, showing Lan the pot.

“Yes” said Lan, taking a few steps back after his heightened sense of smell alerted him to what was inside.

“Do you have on your” Byakko paused for effect “second skin?”

Lan reached below his dark blue inner shirt and pulled out part of the dark material he was wearing underneath. 

“Ninja set, ready.” said Lan.

“New weapons?” asked Byakko.

“Got’em” said Lan.

The two of them then exited the house and walked out into the cool night air of the brightly lit street. The two of them decked out in their tuxedos, attracted many stares as they walked through the mazelike streets of the town. Lan stared up at the mines as they neared it, a dark looming shape stuck in the side of the mountain that stared down at the brightly lit streets below. Steam billowed from the smokestacks at the top of the mine structure which were on the same level as the tops of the cliffs surrounding the town. It was the refinery used to transform the raw dust ore into its marketable forms and was constantly running, operated by the highly paid engineers from Schnee headquarters as well as the night-shift Faunus laborers. Tons and tons of valuable dust was shipped out of the refinery every day, giving the town access to great wealth, but at the same time attracting those with dark intentions that would abuse the resources here. It was the life giver of the town as well as its greatest poison.

The two of them walked through the front gates leading into the mine courtyards and turned right towards the towering office building that was only dwarfed by the mine structure next to it. After passing through the double doors they were greeted by the receptionist in the brightly lit white lobby. 

“Welcome” she said with a large smile on her face. “Do you have your invitations?”

Lan and Byakko handed them to receptionist, who took them with a bow. She then ran them through a small device that was hidden from view behind her large half-circle shaped desk.

“Follow the hallway to your right” she said, looking back up “Take the second set of stairs on your left and that should take you to the party.”

“Thanks” said Lan.

“Have a good day sirs” said the woman.

Lan and Byakko followed her instructions and walked into the hall, quickly found the stairs, and descended down towards the party below. The two of them opened a pair of double doors at the bottom of the stairs and entered the party room. The room was enormous. The walls were lined with giant white marble columns and expensive looing pieces of art. Three giant chandeliers hung from the ceiling and illuminated the party that took place below on the smooth marble floor. 

There were dozens and dozens of people talking, laughing, and dancing at various parts of the room. In the center of the room there were three long tables covered with dozens of high quality dishes and drinks that the guests were enjoying, serving themselves and then taking the food and drink back to one of the circular tables scattered throughout the room. Every so often a waiter would come out of a door in the right wall and replace one of the finished dishes with a new sumptuous creation or remove empty plates from tables. At the far end of the hall there was a giant stage which had wires running from it to speakers attached to the marble columns. The stage was outfitted to allow both performers and video shows to entertain the people in the room. At that moment there was a very well-dressed band playing a waltz on the stage. 

Directly in front of the stage, there was a large satin couch where Lan could make out Siemans’s form. The man had his arms around the shoulders of two well-dressed woman who would giggle every once in a while. Servants surrounded him, taking care of his every whim and a host of guards surrounded him on either side. From the looks of it, Siemans would be staying there the whole night. 

“Look boy” said Byakko, who pointed towards a table near the middle of the left wall. Sitting there was Aurelius, the captain of the guard, who was wearing a white suit with a fur cloak wrapped around his shoulders and was eating a meal with his wife and his son. 

“Alright then” said Byakko, cracking his knuckles “Distraction time.”

Moving so fast that Lan couldn’t see him, Byakko darted over to the table. 

“Hello Captain!” shouted Byakko, who appeared seemingly out of nowhere behind the man and completely startled him and his family.

“Oh uh,’ehem’ hello” said Aurelius. “Good to see you guardsman Byakko how are you enjoying the—“

“You wanna see what I have in the pot?” interrupted Byakko, who opened the lid a small crack.

The moment it opened, a cloud of purple gas blasted into Aurelius’s face.

“I made it myself” said Byakko. “You want some?”

Aurelius didn’t answer; probably because he was too busy clutching his throat and gagging while his wife and child looked on from the side, expressions of horror on their faces. Lan quickly rushed forward and pulled Aurelius off the chair and onto the floor, which was free from the vapor.

“I don’t think he wants any grandpa” said Lan as he patted the man on the back.

Byakko shrugged and shut the lid of the pot and while Lan slowly hit pressure points on Aurelius’s body that would help his breathing slowly return to normal.

“Would you like a hand getting up?” asked Lan.

“Oh, why thank you Lan” said Aurelius, coughing as he slowly regained his composure.

Lan helped the man back to his feet and then back onto the chair. 

“Well, since he doesn’t want any” said Byakko, turning towards the crowd of people nearby “I’ll see if any of them want some!”

Byakko then took off running towards the crowd of people nearby.

“Gah! Uh, sorry. Gotta go do some damage control!” shouted Lan who took off after his grandfather. 

“Good luck!” shouted Aurelius after him.

Lan saw Byakko turn and look back at him, an eyebrow raised. Lan nodded, reached into his suit and pulled out the tip of a small silvery card. Byakko nodded and turned back towards the crowd in front.

Lan and Byakko then ran all over the room, repeating the process with every person that they needed a keycard from. Within twenty minutes they had gathered most of them, and finally it was time for the finale. 

“Hmmm.” Said Byakko loudly “No one wants to try…I know, they’ll all be begging to eat it if he likes it!”

Byakko took off running towards the front of the room, Lan close behind him. As he neared the large couch, a few guards moved to stop him. Big mistake.

Like a bowling ball to pins, Byakko blasted through the guards, sending all of them high into the air and came to a stop in front of a startled Mr. Siemans.

“Tonight was a potluck right?” said Byakko.

“No” said Siemans. “Technically you could bring something if you wanted—“

Siemans suddenly realized Byakko’s intentions and was about to voice a command to stop, but too late.

“Good I brought this!” shouted Byakko

Byakko whipped off the lid of the pot and a huge cloud of the purple smoke erupted out of it like a volcanic eruption. Soon the ceiling of the room was soon completely shrouded in the purple mist coming from the pot, casting a gloom of despair over the party goers.

“I made it myself” said Byakko as he dipped a spoon into the pot, a horrifying smile spreading across his face “It’s my special” Byakko paused for (horror) effect “Stew. Try a bite.”

“Oh, uh no” said Siemans, holding up his hands in front of him. The women beside him were shivering in fear. “I’m quite al—“

“Don’t be shy!” shouted Byakko, pulling the spoon out of the pot, which was now covered in a thick purple goo “Eat up!”

The spoon shot forward towards Siemans’s mouth, which was wide open in horror. Before it reached its destination however, Lan leapt forward and dove between the two and unluckily, the spoon found its way into the young boy’s mouth. The force of Byakko thrust forced Lan to swallow, and the moment the spoon was pulled free, Lan fell backwards onto Siemans. 

“Gah, ugh” spluttered Lan, as he pushed himself off Siemans’s horrified form. He clasped his mouth with his right hand and looked as if he was about to vomit, but with what seemed like a great effort, he swallowed the bile back in. 

“G-grandpa” said Lan in a hoarse voice, shaking slightly as he pushed himself off of Siemans. “W-why don’t you leave that pot on the table. I-if people want to try it, they can serve themselves.”

“D’okay” said Byakko after a short pause, a large smile on his face. “I’ll just set it over there on the table then.”

He then shut the pot on the lid, ending the flow of purple smoke. The basement ventilation system was then activated to remove the dark cloud that hung over the party goers. As Byakko walked over towards the table, Lan collapsed onto the floor grasping his stomach. 

“I…really must thank you for that” said Siemans, who was brushing off his coat. “I’ll include a bonus in your next paycheck.”

Lan grunted in acknowledgement, and then slowly rose back to his feet. His stomach gave off a load gurgling sound and he clasped his hand over his mouth again. 

“Ugh, Mr. Siemans?” said Lan “I’m going to need to go the bathroom…for a very long time.”

“Ah, yes, of course” said Siemans, scooting backwards “It’s down the hall to the right.”

Lan nodded and then slowly walked away, heading to the door that lead back upstairs. He passed Byakko on the way. The old man was savagely eating everything in sight, because of this a half circle of empty space had formed between and the other party goers. 

“Did you get it? Asked Byakko as Lan neared.

Lan turned to look at him and nodded. 

“The digestives are in the bag” said Lan, motioning to the one over his shoulder. “And here’s your ‘phone’ for if you want to call me.”

Lan placed the keycard needed to access the main security system into Byakko’s hands and then continued forward. Byakko smiled and turned back to the lamb chops in front of him. Within a few minutes, Lan had limped up the stairs, into the hallway, and found the bathroom. He quickly entered one of the stalls then sat down on the toilet with a loud sigh. 

“Phase one finished without a hitch” he said.

What had been in the pot was indeed Byakko’s cooking, but what had been on the spoon wasn’t. It had been a blob of grape jelly that Lan had made to look like Byakko’s cooking. The boy had needed a good excuse to leave the room once he had gotten everything he needed. He still felt sick however, the jelly had been bathed in the fumes from the pot for a few seconds and had picked up some of the scent. He reached into the bag by his feet, pulled out some stomach medicine and took a sip. While the medicine did its work, Lan went about preparing. The first thing he did was set up a sound system on the lid of the toilet. It was programmed to release sounds of him farting, defecating, or vomiting every minute or so. He then went over the tools he planned to use once again, checking to make sure they were in working order, and then checked over the key cards he had stolen. Once he had finished, the medicine had done its work and he felt fine again.

“Once the mission starts I won’t get a chance to go to the bathroom again so…”

Lan then crawled into the next stall over and did some business, after which he wiped his hands with a packet of cleaning towelettes he had brought with him. Once that was done, he climbed back into the other stall, and peeled off his suit, revealing a full-body black gi. He then reached into the bag and pulled out a dark blue cloth mask that he then strapped over his face and a pair of black gloves that he pulled on. He then pulled everything he needed out of the bag and put them in small pockets hidden all over his clothes.

“Alright” said Lan as he placed the last tool into his clothes “Ready.”

He then looked up. Above him was a vent leading into the ventilation shaft that was shut with four small screws. Lan listened to make sure there wasn’t anyone else in the room, activated the switch for the sound system, and leapt upwards onto the top of the stalls. He then pulled out a screw driver, quickly unscrewed the bolts, caught them and the vent cover and they fell, leapt into the ventilation system, pulled the vent cover back on, and screwed the bolts in through the cracks. He then turned his gaze forward towards the darkness in front of him and began to crawl forwards. After a few minutes of crawling, he came to a stop. This was one of the areas that sensors were set. He reached into his gi and pulled out a black pouch containing chalk powder. He then reached inside, removed a handful of it and blew it into the area in front of him. As it passed through, the powder revealed dim beams of red light that crisscrossed the whole area. The gaps between the beams were too small for Lan to pass through. 

“Guess I’ll have to wait till grandpa shuts off the vents” thought Lan, he then clasped his hands together and prayed that Byakko would be successful, and by that I mean Lan hoped Byakko wouldn’t forget, overdo things, or cause any incriminating destruction. Byakko’s job was imperative to the mission’s success. Due to the high level security systems that filled the building, the guard was very lax in its duties while inside and mostly left the hard jobs to the machines. So if the security system was shut off, Lan would be met with very few obstructions while he did his part of the mission.

He needn’t have worried though. For all his faults, Byakko was always professional, albeit slightly eccentric, when it came to completing his missions. After finishing enough food for 30 people and downing countless bottles of strong alcohol Byakko, had loudly exclaimed to the entire room that he needed to “take a huge shit!” After which he had ran out of the room, with the crows quickly parting to allow him through, most of whom had disgusted looks on their faces. The old man had then ran to the security control room in a seemingly drunken rampage, kicked open the door, and yelled at the horrified guard sitting at the table:

“Is there a bathroom in here?”

Before the man could answer, Byakko caught him in a head lock while singing a drunken song. Once the man had passed out from the fumes of Byakko’s pits, Byakko began spinning him round and round while singing a song about a bear named ted. He then let the man go and the unfortunate fellow flew through the air and crashed into the camera in the corner of the room. Despite the seemingly chaotic and unseemly performance, the whole event had been planned out. Byakko had already established a reputation as a violent and sporadic drunk his first week in town, so this little rampage of his would only be seen as another page in a very long list of offenses and be quickly overlooked. 

Before more guards arrived, Byakko activated the panel of controls at the far right of the desk, which lit up and hummed to life, using the keycard Lan had given him and deactivated the necessary security systems and cameras as per Lan’s instructions, which he read from crudely drawn piece of paper that he afterwards devoured. He then deactivated the panel, which turned off its lights and made it look like it had never been on. He also smashed the screens of the security cameras he had shut off so no one would question the blank screens. A few minutes later, a few guards arrived on the scene. As they entered the room, they choked and ceiled their helmets to block the smell that was filling the room.

Byakko had wanted to make the whole thing look as much as one of his drunken escapades as possible. So, going along with bathroom excuse, he had used one of the trash cans in the room as a toilet and filled it to the rim with (some of) the contents of his bowels, he had then wiped using some nearby tissues. 

He waved to the guards in a mock drunken stupor and asked them if they wanted to use the toilet as well. They had all politely declined and had then guided Byakko to the nearest restroom; for fear that the old man would do something else unspeakable, before sending him back to the party. Three of the guards stayed behind, with two of them helping the unconscious guard in the corner of the room to the infirmary, while the last, which had lost in a game of rock-paper-scissors, was forced to dispose of Byakko’s waste.

Back in the ventilation shaft, Lan watched as the lights slowly flickered away. He then continued forwards. His goal was the vent above the door leading to the next floor. 

You see, to improve the security of the building, the ventilation for each floor was designed as a separate unit, isolating each floor from each other as much as possible to reduce the chance of break-ins (which was also a boon at present time, because if the ventilation systems of each floor had been linked, Lan would have been suffocated by the fumes of Byakko’s cooking that had been sucked into the basement ventilation system). The only way for a normal person to get from floor to floor was through the doors between them or the building’s elevator. Lan and Byakko had chosen to go with the doors for this mission, but the only keycard that opened all the doors was with a master keycard that Siemans always carried with him on strap around his neck and checked on frequently, which was why Lan was unable to take that specific card, or with the multiple keycards for the doorways that were held by the heads of each division of the building, each floor belonging to separate divisions of course, and allowed them to open the doors that were connected to their specific floor. So up to a certain point, Lan had to go floor by floor through the doors connecting them and traverse each floor through the ventilation shafts to avoid any workers that had been forced to stay and work late. The elevator wasn’t an option, since it contained logs and cameras that were on a different server than the main security system. 

After making his way to the vent nearest the door to the next floor, Lan dropped down, removed the necessary key card out of his gi, slid it into a small slot on a panel next to the door, and ran through as it slid open. He then ran up the short flight of stairs leading up to the next floor, opened the door with the same card and entered the next floor. It was after working hours so it was very dark there. Through the gloom, Lan could barely see anything. He noticed small points of flickering lights that pierced through the gloom like the stars in the night sky, most from the various computers and other pieces of technological equipment scattered around. 

The second floor of the office building was in charge of distribution, and the personnel were either home or at the party downstairs. There may have been a few stragglers there taking care of some last minute projects, but they would shut up in separate rooms, struggling to finish the long and monotonous work that had been assigned to them by their superiors. 

Lan sniffed the air. It was filled with the smell of cleaner. Good. That meant that the janitors had already been through and wouldn’t be coming around. Slowly, Lan crept forwards into the dark, bringing up the floor plan to mind as he went. The nearest entrance to the ventilation system to this floor was in a bathroom a couple meters ahead of him. Even though it was unlikely that anyone was nearby he still wanted to take as little risk as possible. After slipping through the darkness like a shadow in the night he arrived at its location. Then, quietly, he pushed his way into the restroom. Once inside, he listened carefully for anything that could signal that someone was inside. Nothing.

Pulling out a small flashlight, Lan leapt onto the top of the stalls, found the ventilation shaft and quickly climbed in.

“Good thing I won’t have to do this for every floor” thought Lan, who grimaced at the thought of having to go through this procedure for all 10 floors of the office building. 

Due to the risky nature of the mining operation, what with the possibility of a violent response from the many Faunus workers, the Dust Hole branch Schnee office building had no windows on the first 4 floors to make break-ins more difficult. 

Lan planned to exit to the back of the building from one of the fifth floor windows and climb his way to the top from there. He wasn’t able to do so from the bottom of the building because he would have had to slip by the eyes of the perceptive front desk receptionist to do so, as well as the eyes of the guards patrolling the mine courtyard. 

After making his way through the second floor without trouble, Lan headed up to the third, which was equally deserted and as a result easy to pass through. Sadly, this lulled the boy into a false sense of security. It was when he was crawling through the ventilation shaft of the 4th floor, the finance department, that he received his first shock. 

As he neared a vent in the middle of the system, making more noise than he would have if he had felt more cautious, he noticed that light was coming out of it, the only one he had seen so far.

“What’s that banging?” he heard from a voice in the room below. Lan stopped and tensed his whole body. He heard the sound of a chair scooting back and a man getting to his feet. Lan stayed perfectly still and fifteen seconds later, he heard the man sigh and plop back into his chair. Lan slowly crept forward and peered through the vent into the room below. Sitting at a desk in a small office decorated with many pictures of his family was Mr. Kenichi. On the right side of his desk was a stack of papers 6 feet high, on his left were 3 similar stacks of paper 5 feet high each. Mr. Kenichi would remove one piece of paper from the right pile, enter some data into the computer in front of him, write something down on the paper, stamp it, and place it in the left pile. 

“That’s not the work of one man” thought Lan. At that moment, Mr. Kenichi’s phone rang. Mr. Kenichi picked it up, adopted a brighter expression, and answered “Mr. Kenichi, vice-chief of the 3rd accounting division speaking.”

He nodded once or twice as the man on the other line talked to him.

“Yes, yes” he said “I’ve almost finished the work, should be done by the end of the night. So you, Benjy, Heinrich, and everyone else just enjoy your selves at the party.” He paused for a moment as the man on the other line spoke again “Yes sir, and I appreciate your allowing me to keep my job even with all the lay-offs lately and the bonuses you give me there are also much appre—“The man on the other line spoke again and Mr. Kenichi’s bright demeanor faded “No vacation days for the next month? No no sir, I understand it’s just that… it was a little unexpected is all. Yes, Yes, I’ll have the reports done by morning…goodnight to you as well sir.”

Mr. Kenichi set down the phone, sighed, and pulled a small date book out of his shirt. He made two quick strokes and shut it while muttering “What am I going to tell Hikari when I get home.” Lan remembered that that was the name of his wife. He then took a sip of coffee from a mug, stretched, rubbed his exhausted looking face, and then continued with his assignment. 

Quietly, Lan moved further into the ventilation shaft and after he was sure he was out of earshot, he let out a deep sigh. 

“Poor guy” he thought “Working so hard and not getting back as much as he put in…A lot like the Faunus that are working here.”

Lan knew what kind of place this was. It was where the strong and cruel reigned over the weak and kind. A tyranny. 

“And one that’s gonna change real soon.” Thought Lan. 

After a few more minutes in the ventilation system, he made it to the fifth floor. 

After making sure that there was no one nearby, Lan entered the nearest vent and began to make his way towards the back of the building. He quickly arrived at his destination, a small forgotten bathroom hidden away behind a bookshelf that was now only accessible from the ventilation system. He dropped down into the dilapidated restroom and fixed his gaze on the dirty window, luckily for him the bathroom had been cleaned right before the bookcase had been moved there so the unclean areas that littered the room were simply from old age, not from old excrements. 

Lan leapt up, grabbed the latch that held the lock in place, and, with a little effort, managed to force the latch into the unlocked position. He then pushed it open and looked outside. Spreading out below him were the lights from the town that lit up the normally grey tapestries of concrete buildings with hundreds of multicolored gems. To his right was more of the town, to his left was the dark mountainside. Lan took a moment to enjoy the view and the cool mountain breeze that brushed past his eyes before returning to the task at hand. 

He reached inside his gi, and pulled out four rare metal knives that he had taken from Byakko’s armory back in tiger valley. After strapping two of them to his feet with strong cords and taking up the other two in his hands, Lan then leaned out the window and drove the dagger in his left hand into the concrete wall above his head with a sharp clank. After giving it a few tugs to see if it was stable, Lan leapt out the window, his left hand thoroughly gripped on the dagger planted into the wall, turned his body by adjusting his grip on the knife, and slammed the knife in his right hand into the wall. He turned his head and looked down below at the 15 meter drop to the ground below him. A normal boy would have had vertigo after doing this, but Lan felt no such feeling due to him having being forcibly pushed off the side of the great waterfall in tiger valley many many times. He then turned his gaze upwards, pulled the left knife free, and began to climb. The first couple feet went smoothly as he clanked and cut himself up the side of the building, luckily there were very few windows on the back of the building so he didn’t have to avoid too many as he climbed. But he suddenly stopped as he heard one of the guards in the courtyard at the front of the building say: “What’s that clanging sound?”

Lan knew that his means of scaling the building were by no means quiet, but he had hoped that he would have been far enough away from the guards for his knife work to be inaudible. 

“You wanna check that out?” said a second guard.

“Uhhh, why not?” said the first guard “nothing better to do anyway.”

Lan heard the crunch of his boots slowly march towards the back of the building and saw the beam of light from a flashlight pass over the mountain side to his right. Lan closed his eyes and prayed. He prayed for the one thing that had always saved him from every single dangerous moment of his life but often left him feeling quite awkward.

“Hey there everybody!” shouted a loud and crass voice.

Ah there it was. 

“Let’s tango!”

The light disappeared and was replaced by the sound of tango music. Lan climbed diagonally upwards and peered around the corner of the building towards the front. Down in the courtyard he saw Byakko hand in hand and dancing with a portly man wearing a green suit and a long golden beard. The two of them were surrounded by the courtyard guards. The man had an extremely alarmed look on his face and was attempting to break away at every attempt he got. Lan recognized him as Bartrand, the head of the Distribution department. The two of them were currently dancing the tango with Byakko, whose face looked to be a combination of inebriation and seriousness, dragging the well-dressed individual all across the courtyard. He was actually quite good. The guards were obviously enjoying this comical display since none of them moved to help the man or turn off the stereo system Byakko had placed near the steps of the building, but at the same time they were all trying hard not to laugh since the subject of Byakko’s harassment was still their superior. Halfway into the dance, Byakko bent backwards, grabbed large bundle of weeds with his teeth, and returned to the normal dancing position with the weeds held between his teeth like the rose that was normally held there during a tango. 

Lan slowly shook his head as he watched this.

“Good distraction grandpa” he said under his breath.

He then continued to climb. As he climbed higher and higher, Byakko continued to dance. Lan checked up on him every once in a while as he climbed and each time he was greeted with the sight and sound of his grandfather dancing to a different tune while wearing a different set of clothing. There were also an increasing number of party goers coming out to join him. By the time Lan had reached the 9th floor, which was right below his destination, everyone that had been at the party was out in the courtyard dancing to a disco tune that was now being played by a band Siemans had hired. In the center of it all was Byakko, who had somehow changed into a white suit with the chest area open, which showed his hairy chest and battle scars, complete with a gold chain necklace and was skillful executing a variety of dance moves. Lan noticed that Siemans had joined the festivities and was dancing with multiple women off to the side.

“I hope they don’t stop before I finish.” thought Lan as he arrived at his destination. 

He was now right below the tenth floor of the building. This floor was quite different from all the others in that it wasn’t for office use. Instead of the normal concrete walls on all sides, the middle section of the walls were made completely of fine glass windows and from Lan’s side one could see a luxurious bedroom filled with every hedonistic desire a man could crave for. It was Siemans’s luxury suite, which was situated right above the management floor and as a result, Siemans’s office. During some of their meetings with the man, Lan and Byakko and seen Siemans push a button under his desk and cause a column of the wall in the back of his room to slide down, revealing stairs that led to his private chambers. 

Lan had chosen to enter from Siemans’s luxury suite because the only window in Siemans’s office faced the front of the building, and as a result his entering would be very easily noticed, and the door leading to Siemans’s office required both a facial and voice scan, both of which were impossible for Lan to get passed. 

Lan crawled sideways from his current position until he found the release mechanism for one of the windows. He pulled out the keycard he had taken from Siemans and pressed it against the glass on the opposite side of the mechanism. The signal from the card was apparently strong enough to pass through the glass, because the light on the mechanism turned green and the window clicked open. 

Lan leapt into the room and landed on the floor, which was a soft expensive woolen carpet from the feel of it. He then began searching the room for some kind of panel, something that would reveal the stairs leading down into the office. He checked the bedside table that was stacked with bottles of expensive alcohol, then the walls lined with screens and paintings. He began to check some of the carved sculptures in the room when he heard a slight click. He turned around and saw the handle of the door leading into the guest room next door quiver.

Like a startled rabbit, Lan bolted backwards and dove under the bed. A moment later he heard the door swing open and watched a pair of feet wearing rep pumps cross the floor.

“Mr. Siemans” said the woman in a mushy and cutesy voice “Is that you?”

After seeing that no one was there the woman gave a sigh in a voice that was very different from before and plopped down on the bed. Lan then heard the snap of a lighter and a few seconds later smelled the scent of tobacco. It would be good to note that Lan was hypersensitive to cigarette smoke, just a simple whiff made him feel like vomiting. This was most likely due to the fact that he hadn’t come in contact with any smokers until coming to this city and had been breathing the freshest and cleanest air from the sea and mountains up till then.

Lan felt his digestive juices flow upward to his throat, but for the sake of his mission he tightened his stomach muscles and clamped his mouth shut. 

“Why didn’t I get the scent proof mask?” he thought

“Hey!” yelled another woman from the other room.

“What?” said the woman on the bed.

“Is there any cognac left?” said the woman from the other room.

“I’ll check!” shouted the woman on the bed. She then got up and started going through the bottles on Siemans’s table. After a few moments she clicked her tongue and knelt down on the floor.

“Maybe a bottle rolled under the bed” said the woman.

Lan felt his heart leap into his throat.

“Check the office!” yelled the woman from the other room.

The woman in the room got up and walked towards the front of the room. Lan heard a beeping sound and crawled to the edge of the bed to get a better look. A control panel was jutting out of the wall under the giant TV screen. The woman pressed a button on it and a doorway in the right portion of the same wall that held the screen slid open. The woman walked down and came back later holding a dark brown bottle. 

“Man that guy stinks” said the woman as she came back into the room.

She pressed the same button on the control panel and the door closed up again. Turning, she walked towards a marble bust of an angel and lifted its head, revealing a small green button. After it was pressed, the control panel slid back into the wall and the woman returned to the room next door, closing the door with a bang. After waiting a minute or two to make sure that she wouldn’t come back, Lan leapt out from under the bed, quietly ran to the statue and pressed the button. The control panel slide out of the wall and Lan pressed the button on it that he remembered the woman had pressed. The door leading down into Siemans’s office opened with a hiss and Lan ran down the stairs into the room below. 

The moment he entered he was struck with a powerful odor, not nearly as powerful as his grandfather’s though so it didn’t really bother him. Slumped over and snoring on one of the coaches was a large overweight security guard. Lan quietly walked over and read the name on his name tag: Garfield Sphinx. 

Lan pulled out a pouch of knock-out powder from his bag, and poked the man a few times with increasing strength. The guard merely grunted and blurted “queso” a few times, but remained in a state of deep slumber.

Satisfied that he wouldn’t be interrupted, Lan pocketed the powder and turned his attention to the bookcase behind Siemans’s desk. He carefully walked towards it. But before he reached it he sat down at Siemans’s desk, found the panel of buttons underneath, and pressed the button that would close the door leading into Mr. Siemans’s private floor. He didn’t want those ladies walking down when he was busy working on the safe. 

He then got up and pulled all the books from the central portion of the shelf revealing the safe behind it. Lan pulled Siemans’s lockbox keycard out of his gi and placed it into a slot near the safe’s handle. He then punched in the nine-digit access code on a small key pad and smiled as he heard the inner mechanism click. He then grabbed the handle and opened the safe.

Inside were a pile of documents as well as many large stacks of lien and some other valuables. Lan grabbed the lien and valuables first and put them in his gi, after all he had to make this look like a normal break-in so that he and Byakko wouldn’t be suspected. 

He then turned his attention to the documents. He skimmed the first few lines of the paper on top and smiled, just what he and Byakko had been looking for. Lan reached forward, grabbed the stack of papers, and tucked them into his gi. The moment he did so, he heard a small click. Alarmed, Lan looked back at the safe and saw what looked like a laser pointer shining up from where the papers had been.

“Sensor” said Lan placing his right hand on his forehead “I should have seen that coming!”

Strangely, no alarm sounded but the room was filled with a sliding clanking sound. Lan turned around him and watched as 8 man-sized rectangular slots in the wall slid open and stepping out of each of them was an AK-100 security android. They were the latest standard humanoid security androids built in Atlas, the most technologically advanced of the four kingdoms. They were black in color and had lines of red energy traveling all over their bodies.

“Strange” thought Lan as the androids turned their gazes towards him “Those weren’t in any of the security plans.”

“Intruder identify yourself.” commanded one of the droids in a deep mechanical voice as its hands retracted into its arms and were replaced with blades. 

A second later, it fell to the ground, a rare metal knife piercing through the middle of its visor and cutting into its central energy system. The other security droids looked at each other then charged at the boy, all their hands retracting and being replaced with blades. 

Lan knew that he couldn’t take them all on at once, not with his skills, so he reached into his bag, pulled out a custom smoke screen and threw it onto the ground, enveloping the room in smoke. The androids stopped in their tracks and activated their sensors. Unluckily for them, Lan had included magnetic sand as well as other metal compounds that were able to throw off such sensors in the smoke screen. 

A knife flew through the air and collided against one of their heads. It bounced off with a clang, and then machine turned to face the direction the blade came from. Lan cursed and slipped back into the cover of the smokescreen. His throwing strength was strong enough to get a black through the AK-100’s visor, but not its armor. Normally in this situation he would have used some of his explosives to finish them off, but he didn’t want to alert anyone on the nearby floors to what was happening here. Luckily, it seemed as though Mr. Siemans’s office security systems were isolated, otherwise more guards would have already burst into the room by now. 

As he crept through the smoke, Lan reached into his gi and pulled out his special quadruple banded heavy slingshot. He then pulled out a small arrow-like spike about the size of a bullet; loaded it into the slingshot, pulled back on the sling with great effort, and let the projectile fly at one of the androids. With a soft clank, the projectile pierced into its torso and struck its energy source, shutting off the android where it stood. The other androids sensed the demise of their companion and bundled closer together as per the instructions of their defensive protocols, big mistake. 

Lan crept through the smoke as silently as an assassin and performed the deed three more times, turning the glowing sentinels into dark metal statues. By then the smoke had dissipated considerably and the boy could no longer count on the cover to mask his position while he readied his aim. He also didn’t have any more specialized smoke bombs. He had kept that one with him in case he met any guards with sensory equipment.

“Three left” thought Lan as he put away his slingshot and pulled out a pair of long metal rods “I can probably handle that.” 

Lan darted forward and slid under the legs of a deactivated android and popped up in the center of the formation with the three active androids’ backs to him. Lan leapt upwards and brought one of the sticks down on one of the android’s head. The blow caused a deep dent in the robot’s head, making its light flicker, but the android remained functional. It whipped around, swinging one of its blades at Lan, but the boy was to bring up his sticks and block the blow in time. The force of the blow knocked Lan into one of the lifeless androids causing both him and it to fall to the ground. Lan leapt back to his feet and darted to the side as a blade crashed into the fallen androids body. As he did so, Lan brought down one of the sticks on the joint connecting the blade to the androids risk, shattering it. As the android rose up, it staggered slightly due to the slight difference in weight. Seeing the opening, Lan hefted end of the other stick into his palm and thrust it upwards into the androids visor, smashing through the material and rendering the machine lifeless. The other two androids had become aware of Lan at this point and came bearing down on him. Lan leapt backwards, avoiding their blows and leaving the metal stick stuck in the falling android’s face. He then drew a knife with his other hand and struck a defensive pose. The androids charge forward and swung their blades at him. 

Lan leapt upwards to avoid the blows, planted his feet on the wall directly behind him, and dove at the android to his right. The android swung one of its blades up, but Lan deflected the blow using the iron stick in his left hand and brought the knife down onto the android’s visor. He then used the falling android as a springboard and leapt back into the center of the room. He turned to look at the last robot, the metal rod gripped tightly in his hand. 

The android, however, did not move. It stood staring at him for a second and then spoke.

“Analysis complete” it said in its deep voice “Threat level Alpha, permission to use fire arms granted.”

The android’s metal blades retracted and were replaced with Gatling gun barrels. 

Alarmed Lan ran for the quickest area of cover that he could see, Siemans’s desk. A moment later, a barrage of weapon fire crashed into the front of the desk. The desk was made of a combination of metal and thick wood, but it wouldn’t hold out forever. Lan needed to think of a plan. He had never been under rapid gunfire so far, so he didn’t know how to respond.

“Think Lan, think, there’s got to be something I can use to get out of this situation.”

Lan was sweating profusely as he pulled out everything from his gi. Tools, thread, small weapons, snacks, the things he had stolen, a picture of Byakko smiling while holding a giant rubber chicken……how the heck did that get in there?

As he puzzled over the strange article, he suddenly remembered a simple but effective tactic Byakko had used when he and Lan had played “coconut attack” with the monkeys back in tiger valley.

In the center of the room the android had its sights set on the desk, its guns still blazing. It calculated that it had more than enough ammunition to pierce all the way through, so if conditions remained as they were its job would be finished shortly. Suddenly, it saw something dart out from the left side of the desk. Following its protocol, it immediately turned and fired upon it, riddling it with hole. However, after a quick visual analysis the robot determined the object to be nothing more than a black coat. The android then turned its attention back to the desk. Its audio tracking systems suddenly picked up a whooshing sound directly above it. The android turned its head upwards just in time to see the end of a metal rod about to crash into its face. 

With a yell, Lan smashed the rod into the androids visor. It then crashed to the ground, carried down by the force of Lan’s momentum. Lan hammered the rod in a bit deeper for good measure then after making sure the android was inactive, he fell to the ground with a sigh. 

“Close” said Lan, panting and wiping sweat from his brow. His ears were still ringing from the gunfire, but his hearing was slowly returning to normal. “Good thing this room is soundproof.” Thought Lan.

Lan made a mental note to start training himself against firearms and the like. After taking a few moments to catch his breath, Lan walked back to behind the desk where he had left his things. He first checked up on his gi. It had quite a few holes in it, but thanks to the strong material it was made out of it had withstood the barrage well enough to still be wearable. Lan quickly sprayed it with some odor remover that he had carried with him to remove the smell of firearms, and threw it back on. He then put as many tools and other items as he could into his pockets as he could, some of the pockets of his gi had been torn up by the machine gun fire. He then placed everything else into a suitcase that he found in one of the side drawers of Mr. Siemans’s desk.

He then straightened up and prepared to leave, but suddenly had a strange feeling that he had forgotten something. At that moment, Lan heard a loud snort. The boy whipped around looked in the direction it had come from. He found the fat security guard still asleep on the couch, a small line of drool running down the side of his mouth. 

“How the heck did he sleep through all of that” thought Lan, raising an eyebrow.

He walked over and poked the man again. The guard simply snorted and turned in his sleep.

Satisfied, Lan straightened his back and began assessing his situation. He now had everything he needed and it was time for him to pull out. He didn’t want to go back up though; he had no way of telling whether the ladies would be in there or not. He looked out the window of Mr. Siemans’s room and could see that the dance party was still going on from down below. With that in mind, Lan decided that his best option would be to scale the back of the building back down to the 5th floor bathroom and head back to the bathroom on the 1st using the same path he had initially used. 

“But first things first” thought Lan, reaching into his gi and pulling out a chocolate bar “a quick snack.”

Lan ripped off the wrapper and was about to take a bite when,

“’snort’”

The security guard sat bolt upright, rubbing his eyes and sniffing the air.

“Hmmm, is that chocolate I smell?” he said in a sleepy voice, turning in Lan’s direction.

A pouch of knock-out powder crashed into straight into the man’s face and then man fell back onto the couch.

“That’s what woke him up?” said Lan, wrinkling his brow as he took a bite. 

He didn’t have the necessary key cards to get to the ninth floor, but Mr. Siemans’s private computer was able to control the locks of every door and window in the building. Luckily for Lan, the machine gun fire hadn’t pierced far enough into the desk to damage the computer’s systems. Lan pressed a button under the desk to make it pop up and entered in the password: (censored) Man. Lan then accessed the security system app on the screen and unlocked all doors leading from one floor to another. After setting Mr. Siemans’s door to lock the moment it was shut from the outside (this was to make the details behind the break-in even more difficult to discover), Lan shut off the computer, picked up any evidence that might relate the break-in to him (which included the knives, metal rods, scraps of gi cloth, and pieces of the chocolate bar wrapper). He then grabbed the briefcase containing the rest of the things and walked out the door. After it closed behind him, Lan turned around twisted the handle to make sure that it was locked. 

The moment he did so he heard the clomp of booted fee behind him. 

“Freeze!” he heard someone shout behind him.

Lan turned around and saw a guard standing 10 feet away from him at the bend in the hallway pointing a rifle right at him. 

“Ha-ha” laughed the man “caught ya you little midget thief!”

This choice of wording pissed off Lan slightly. 

“And right before you entered Mr. Siemans’s office! Oh I am good!” said the man, not knowing that the office had already been broken into.

“I didn’t know that the guards here were cleared for heavy assault weaponry” said Lan in a very deep voice.

“Normally no,” said the guard “but we knew you were coming and prepared accordingly.”

“That explains the androids” thought Lan.

“So where are the rest of the guards?” asked Lan

“There is one more in the room!” said the guard “My associate: guardsman Garfield Sphinx.”

“That’s it?” said Lan raising an eyebrow.

“Well, yeah.” Said the guardsman “the information source wasn’t really that reliable so, our superiors just put the two of us in charge of security here after adding a few new security additions. They’re down at the party right now.” The man paused for a moment; Lan could tell he was slightly depressed. “But make no mistake” said the guard perking up “They probably did it because they trusted us! After all we’re way more reliable than the security implementations they put in!”

“8 state of the art AK-100 battle droids not as good as a fat lazy guard and a clueless and chatty guard” thought Lan “uh-huh.”

“Put your arms in the air.” Said the guard, motioning with his gun.

“So you’re the only guard out here” said Lan.

“Yes” said the guard.

“The only person on this floor.” Said Lan

“Except for good old Garfield, everyone else is down at the party.” Said the guard.

“So you really think that you can handle me and my large friend that’s about to strangle you?” Said Lan.

“What?!” said the guard in an alarmed voice. He whipped around and looked behind himself. Nothing but empty hallway. 

“Crap” said the guard.

In that instance, Lan crossed the 10 feet separating the two and entered into super close combat range. The guard tried to point the gun down at the boy but before he was able to do so, Lan leapt upwards and threw a powerful uppercut into the man’s groin. The man let out a very sissy-like scream and his grip on the rife loosened. In the moment Lan slip one of the iron rods out of his sleeve and into his hand and whacked the rifle away as the man crumpled. Lan then seized both of the man’s arms, wrenched them behind his back and held them in place while placing his each of his thumbs over a pressure point on the man’s arms.

“Well, I’ll try to make this as fast as possible” said Lan, tightening his grip and making the guard whimper. “First of all, what’s your name soldier?”

“Gah, Francis Danish” said the guard, who was obviously not accustomed to pain.

“Well Mr. uh, Danish, could you tell me who was the one that tipped you all off?” said Lan

“That is strictly confidential and—“ started Richards in a strained voice.

Lan wrenched his arms backwards and pressed deeply into the pressure points under his thumbs.

“Gaaaaaahhhhhh!” screamed Richards who then answered in a shaky voice “The…one…who told us, aghhh, was…a…little Faunus boy!”

“Why did he tell you?” asked Lan.

“I don’t know” said Richards “He came by a week ago and said that someone paid him to deliver the message and we don’t know where the kid is now!”

Lan stared into the man’s fearful eyes and deduced that he was telling the truth. He then loosened his grip on the man’s arms and delivered a quick kick to the man’s groin.

“Why?” said the man, falling onto the ground while grasping his groin. 

Lan didn’t answer; he simply removed the man’s helmet, hit him over the head with a rod, and left his unconscious form on the ground. 

“It seems I’ve picked up some of grandpa’s sadistic side” muttered Lan. 

He also began thinking about the informant. Why would a young Faunus boy tip-off a company that is notorious for using controversial Faunus labor practices? This thought pounded throughout his skull as he opened a ninth floor window then climbed down to the forgotten bathroom on the fifth floor and lingered in his mind as he crawled through the ventilation systems. 

When he finally arrived back at the first floor bathroom where he had started, Lan had decided he would confer with Byakko about this at a later time. Lan shut off the sound device that were playing the defecation audio and packed them into the bag he had left by the toilet. He then changed back into his formal wear and shoved his cloth mask, gloves, ninja gi, weapons, the confidential documents, tools, and everything else he had back back into his bag. After checking to make sure everything was in order, Lan slung the bag over his shoulder and took on a sickly expression in accordance with his previous excuse for leaving the party. He then listened to make sure nobody was in the room then opened the stall and washed himself at the sink, taking a long drink as he did so (the tap water in the building was surprisingly clean).

He then left the bathroom. As he entered the hallway he noticed a stream of party goers returning back into the party room downstairs. Many of them were laughing and sweating from the merriment back in the courtyards.

“Get those chefs back to work!” he heard Siemans call over the din “This party’s gonna last till dawn.”

Lan smiled and walked into the crowd where he was patted on the back and asked if he was okay now by many of the people who noticed him. Lan thanked them all for their kind word and said that he was fine over and over. As he slipped through the crowd, Lan took the opportunity to return all the keycards back into the clothes of their owners without them noticing. 

After he arrived back in the room, Lan plopped down on in front of the table that he judged to have been claimed by Byakko, due to the massive pile of empty plates that the servers were still carrying away, and let out a sigh of contentment. 

“It go well?” said Byakko into the side of Lan’s ear.

“Yep” said Lan, “But it looks like things are a bit more complicated than we previously believed.”

“They always are.” Said Byakko, patting Lan on the head. “Anyway it’s a job well done and you earned yourself a nice break, and I already finished turning the security systems back on and have recently snuck the security keycard back into pocket where it came from. So let’s go join the party and grab some eats. As the boss man said ‘the party’s gonna last till dawn!’”

Lan smiled, got up, and headed towards the food tables in the center of the room. He was feeling ravenous now and thought that he would be able to eat 1/10th as much as Byakko could.

I’d saw we’re around halfway done with the Dust Hole arc, still lot’s more drama and action to come. And I must say, I have been pleased with the response to my story so far and would be happy to answer any questions that people might have. 

 

Anyway, thank you all for your support so far and I hope you continue to enjoy The Journeys of Lan well into the future.


	23. Chapter 23

Ch 23

Lan and Ignis were staring each other down. Lan’s eyes full of mock seriousness and Ignis’s full of playfulness.

“Why?” said Lan, narrowing his eyes.

‘plop’

“Why do you always have to sit down in front of me whenever I’m on the toilet?”

Ignis stared at Lan for a moment longer and then his face broke into the usual happy smile, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth.

The two of them were currently in the restroom of Lan’s home, Lan being on the toilet, and Ignis sitting right in front of him.

“Your making me feel uncomfortable.” said Lan.

Ignis wagged his tail and made a happy groaning sound. Lan smiled and shook his head, he then reached for the toilet paper, but stopped as he noticed what was on the roll.

“Grandpa!” yelled Lan.

“N’Yes?” answered Byakko from down below.

“Why is there sandpaper on the toilet roll?” 

“Don’t you remember what I said to you back when we started training?” said Byakko, “We’re training every part of your body!”

Lan groaned, stared at the rough material, then sighed. He had no choice…unless he wanted to let Ignis…no, bad idea.

It had been two days since the two of them had stolen the documents from Mr. Siemans’s office. The morning after the party, there had been a huge uproar in the building after Mr. Siemans arrived at his office to discover his security androids destroyed, his safe empty, and his guards incapacitated. He had spread a huge office-wide alarm, shutting down the mining operation while an investigation was being made. He also sent the guardsmen to patrol the town in an attempt to find the thief and promised rewards to anyone who had information about the culprit. Lan and Byakko had refused to participate in the search and when they were reprimanded by Siemans, Lan had pulled out a copy of the contract they had signed and pointed to the section involving the guardsman’s duties. Lan pointed out that the only duties of the guardsmen were to protect the well-being and property of those in the mining operation while on duty. Siemans had been furious and was sure that the copy was a forgery, but then again Lan was the only guardsman of his ranking that had actually read the entire contract and had a thorough idea of what the job entailed. Since they couldn’t be held legally accountable for their choice in this matter, Siemans sent them out of the office, stating that they would be on leave without pay for the next three days. This resulted in Lan and Byakko educating other guardsman of their ranking on the contract, which forced Siemans to give incentive bonuses for the patrol duty and afterwards contact the hiring department and demand that they improve the wording in the hiring contracts for guardsman. 

And what became of the guardsmen who had guarded the office you ask? Well, even thought that they had did their best to protect the office (the guardsman Garfield’s being covered with knock out powder when found that morning gave him a good excuse for his inaction), they had been fiercely reprimanded. Lan had watched from the sidelines as their sergeant had yelled at the two that morning, with guardsmen Danish appearing remorseful for his actions and guardsman Garfield seeming as if he didn’t care. A third guardsmen had been with the sergeant during this meeting and had been constantly complimenting the sergeant’s actions as well as telling his two fellow guards what they could have done better, many of the suggestions being excerpts from the guardsman manual (which Lan doubted that most of the guards had even read).

At present time, the entire town was holding its breath and waiting for the aftermath of the break-in. Who was the one that stole from Siemans? What was stolen? These and many other questions and rumors floated around the town as the minutes and hours ticked by. Also, with the mines temporarily shut down, the many Faunus laborers suddenly found themselves without the income they needed for their meals. Luckily for them, Siemans couldn’t afford to keep the mines closed for too long, not without angering his superiors at least, so the mine was scheduled to be reopened two days from now.

In the meantime, Lan and Byakko were enjoying their short vacation, which entailed the usual vicious training followed by whatever they felt lie doing that day. Things had been difficult for Lan the first day however, after he had told Byakko about his firearms weakness. Both luckily and unluckily for Lan, Byakko had devised a quick and effective training regime which involved the old man throwing a barrage of small rocks at the boy and forcing him to dodge them. Byakko started out slow of course, but by the end of the day Lan still needed several ice bags to keep the swelling down.

Now back to present time.

Lan crawled down the stairs on his stomach, Ignis harassing him all the way down of course. Lan’s rear was in too much pain for him to move properly. After arriving in the living room, Lan crawled into his chair, sat down (which elicited a short yelp from the young boy), and grabbed the copy of Modern applications of Dust that he had been reading. Ignis plopped down near Lan’s feet and settled there.

“How was the new toilet paper?” said Byakko, who was sitting on a couch across the room from Lan and changing George’s diaper.

“What purpose would training that area serve?” said Lan.

“Oh you’d be surprised” said Byakko, “you never know when an iron spike or other similar items could be fired at your behind. So we will harden it to withstand that damage by exposing it to various rough and hard materials. I bet in no time flat, you can start using those steel cacti I’ve been growing!” Byakko pointed to an enormous cactus in the corner of the room that had grown from its pot on the floor to halfway up to the ceiling.

Lan grimaced and hid his face behind his book.

“So,” continued Byakko, finishing up with George and allowing the little monkey leap off the couch and tackle Ignis. “How are the plans for tomorrow’s party going?” 

“Good,” said Lan, looking up from the book “I’ve got the okay from everybody down at the worker living quarters and have assigned everyone responsibilities.”

“And we of course will bring the food.” Said Byakko, smiling as he watched George pick and eat insects out of Ignis’s fur.

The day before, Lan and Byakko had gotten together with the Faunus workers. None of them had been invited to Siemans’s party so Lan and Byakko had decided that they would throw one together just for the Faunus workers. This had been well-received by the workers, especially since a large feast would be provided and there would be no time conflicts with work. 

At present time, a large number of Faunus were prepping the empty square in the center square of the Faunus living quarters for the event by cleaning the area and setting up tables, chairs, stands, and a stage. Entertainment would be provided by anyone who felt like it, Lan had set up a sign up list for possible for performers once the plans for the event had been finalized and had been surprised to find the list completely full by the end of the first day.

Things were progressing swimmingly for the coming event and the whole local Faunus community was buzzing with excitement, but unbeknownst to them Lan and Byakko had a second major agenda for throwing the party. A little while ago Lan and Byakko had sent Ignis and George to the White Fang airship, inviting the whole organization to the party. It was there that Lan and Byakko planned to pass on the incriminating information. From what Lan could make out from the documents he had stolen, Siemans had been selling a significant portion of the dust purified at the mines to certain other parties in exchange for a hefty sum. A scandal like this could easily get the man out of office, and Siemans knew this. For that reason, the man had ordered the guards to search every suspicious person they saw, especially if they were heading towards any organizations that could disseminate the information, like the local news station or the White Fang. For this reason, Lan had not given the documents to Ignis and George, since a monkey in a diaper with a backpack riding a wolf pup would definitely attract the attention of the guards and be searched. So along with the invitations, Lan had also sent something that would alert Jirall and Daylen to the situation without setting off any warning bells. It was a letter written by Byakko that read:

“Remember what we talked about last time? Then get over here and we’ll give you some hell!”

This could easily be interpreted as a Byakko, a member of the guard, taunting the members of the White Fang and as a result easily got through the checkpoint that the guards set up around the airfield where the White Fang airships were.

The party was scheduled for tomorrow night.

“Do you have the docs ready?” Asked Byakko, as he plopped onto the couch and switched on the TV.

“Yes” said Lan, pointing to a small leather briefcase in the corner of the room “They are ready. Do you have the meat ready?”

“They’re already in the fridges” said Byakko, smiling.

The two then kicked back in their respective chairs and relaxed as they waited for tomorrow’s setting of the sun.   
.  
.  
.  
The next day around evening

Lan and Byakko were walking down the center street leading towards the center of the Faunus living quarters as the sun began to dip under the horizon, at their side were Ignis and George, the latter riding on the former’s back. On Lan’s back there was a giant backpack containing tools, books, other miscellaneous items, and most importantly the briefcase containing the sensitive documents. On Byakko’s there was a round sack twice his size that contained the ingredients that he had gathered. 

The area around them was in significantly less repair then the rest of the town. The buildings were broken down and decrepit concrete structures. Most of the roofs were patched with thin sheets of metal and woodwork, many of the windows were broken in many of the homes, and the streets were peppered with many stains that Lan didn’t care to know about. The Faunus in the area didn’t have the time nor energy to make their neighborhood look nice; here they had to spend all their productive time trying to survive. 

Coming down a hill, Lan saw the large communal farm on the far edge of the living area that he and the local Faunus workers had started a few weeks ago. It was now bursting with the many fast-growing crops they had planted and had already begun to supplement the diets of the Faunus living there. Amazing how a little time placed on the side, could help so many good people survive. Of course, there were rules set in place so that everyone would receive their fair share and Lan had convinced Byakko to be the upholder of those rules, a position that the jubilant old man took quite seriously (evident by the many traumatized workers that had tried to steal more than their fair share of the crops in the middle of the night). 

Lan and Byakko quickly neared the area where the party was to be held and saw that the majority of Faunus living in the area had already arrived. An uproar of greetings erupted from the crowd as soon as they caught sight of Lan and Byakko walking down the hill. Ignis and George perked up at the sight of so many excited friends, and raced down the hill like a cowboy on his horse. Lan and Byakko waived and shouted out greetings as well. The moment their feet touched down on the floor of the party area, they were swarmed by all the Faunus gathered there and had to shake a couple dozen hands before they were able to start moving forwards again.

Lan and Byakko made their way to a giant makeshift grill at one end of the party square and began to set about prepping the food. Byakko set down the giant bag of ingredients, while Lan set up a small table where he prepped his cooking tools and spices. A group of Faunus also brought in a basket of freshly picked vegetables from the garden. 

Lan cracked his knuckles and then began to prepare the meat and vegetables while Byakko lit the grill using a large pile of scrap wood, some fire dust, and a pair of spark rocks (he had originally wanted to use a lighter and his own bodily propellants but Lan had convinced him against it).

Within a few minutes, a variety of meats and vegetables were roasting over a roaring fire and filled the air with a delicious smell. The crowd had gathered around the grill, plates grasped tightly in each of their hands. The air was filled with the sound of the sizzling meat and their growling stomachs. None of the Faunus performers that had signed up wanted to perform before they had eaten their fill, so Byakko leapt onto the stage, pulled out a large ukulele, and began to play a tropical tune that he had learned on his travels. Amazingly, he was actually quite good and soon had the party goers dancing to the tune as they waited in line.   
On a beautiful sunny day,  
Walking on the sandy shore,  
I saw a lonely old tiger,  
Sunning himself and starting to snore,

The first round of cooking quickly finished and Lan began to dispense simmering shish kebabs, cuts, and other tasty barbecue foods onto the many plates that were being held out to him.

I asked myself, why was he here, napin’ on the beach,  
But then again, everybody needs, a comfy place to sleep,  
Life can be tough, and sure enough, we’ll all need breather now and then,  
And that old tiger sleepin’ there was just now cashing in,

Those that had been served sat down at the tables scattered around the square or on any other unoccupied open space and began to voraciously tear into the food that they had been served.

Cause from what I saw, on his fur, and all across his face,  
With his battle scars, and matted hair, and the smile on his face,  
I knew that he’d, seen it all, and just wanted some peace today,  
He’d been down the block and crossed the street more than we will ever be,  
But don’t think that’s the end of his path, fire’s still burning in his eyes,   
So after a snooze, and maybe some booze, he’ll be running off again!

The first round of performers finished eating and then headed up to the stage where they relieved Byakko of his position. They pulled out a variety of strange instruments made from scrap material and began to play cheerful tune as Byakko made his way down and started to mingle with the rest of the party goers.

The sun had set at this point and the party was starting to get into full swing. Lan checked his watch, it was around 8:30 now. He had been received a message earlier that day from an adolescent member of the White Fang that told him that Jirall, Daylen, and the rest of the main group would be arriving around midnight. There was still plenty of time until their arrival, so he planned to enjoy the party for now, however.

Lan looked down at the bag by his feet. The pocket that contained the briefcase was still firmly sealed with the lock he had placed on earlier. Lan had to keep it safe before the transfer. Many futures were riding on it after all. 

“Hey, the meat’s burning!” shouted someone at the front of the grill.

Lan yelped as he recognized the scent of burning meat and returned his attention back to his cooking duties. For the next three hours Lan was glued to the grill serving practically the entire Dust Hole Faunus population. Byakko had to make trips out of surrounding walls here and there to gather more ingredients and Lan was forced to use the garden grown crops sparingly. 

Byakko mingled with the rest of the crowd by eating, laughing, and gossiping with everyone that came within arm’s reach. Ignis and George spent their time running from table to table and begging for scraps. 

Around 10:00 the bartender at the local bar brought out kegs of beer and whiskey that he had made from the fast-growing Fonio grain plants that had been some of the first crops planted. It wasn’t long before a good portion of the adults became incredibly inebriated, Byakko included.

“Hey,” shouted Byakko as he drank from a large keg of whiskey “Let’s have a drink-off! The top-10 get to have dinner with us for the next week!”

“What about the losers?” asked an equally inebriated man with small bull horns on his head.

“Hmmm” grunted Byakko, as he placed a finger on his chin and began to think “I know! How about this! The ones who lose have to go peeee in a cup and drink it back up again!”

The drinkers surrounding him were already far too far gone too notice how ridiculous this notion was and instead of refusing like the would have had they been sober, they instead raised their glasses and gave loud roar of approval before downing their drinks.

Lan smiled and shook his head as he watched this while throwing another 5 kebabs onto the grill.

Many different entertainment groups had already come and gone off the stage, some of them escorted off with applause from the crowd and some running off the stage to avoid being pelted by whatever their audience felt like throwing. 

By 11:00, Lan had finally satiated the appetites of every Faunus present and collapsed onto a bench on the side of the square after dumping a huge plate of cooked goods onto a large serving table. A moment later Ignis, who was barely able to drag himself towards Lan due to his severely bloated stomach, plopped down by Lan’s left foot and gave a contented sigh. A few seconds later Lan felt George drop onto his shoulders and found that the little monkey was much heavier than he remembered.

“The begging went well?” asked Lan, smiling.

Ignis responded with a contented groan and a fart while George made a small chirping noise and wrapped his arms around Lan’s head. 

“Good to hear” said Lan, settling back into the chair and scratching George’s head.

Lan didn’t feel particularly hungry right now, he had after all tasted a small piece of everything he cooked, so he simply watched the party goers enjoy themselves while sipping from a cup of water. The bag containing the documents was by his side and there was only an hour left until the transfer, as he watched the party goers start a bonfire in the center of the square, he felt peaceful and lifted his gaze to look at the beautiful moon far above.

“‘belch’ how’s the party boy?!”

The peaceful feelings Lan had been experiencing were replaced by a strong odor of alcohol. Byakko crashed down onto the empty spot next to Lan, causing the bench to tilt and raise Lan a few feet into the air and sink where Byakko had sat down. On the other side of the square Lan saw all the Faunus that Byakko had been drinking with passed out and being carried away by their relatives. Lan shook his head, feeling sorry for them. After all, when Byakko made a bet, he made sure to follow up on it.

“Party’s fine grandpa” said Lan, who had already been pulled into a one-armed embrace by his inebriated grandfather. “Just resting a bit before they arrive.”

“Ah,” said Byakko, nodding his head “I see, well you’d better check on them documents just in case. Who knows, you might have missed something?”

“Good thinking grandpa” said Lan, pulling the backpack in front of him and taking the key for the lock out of his pocket. 

“Hey grandpa” said Lan, turning back to Byakko “Do you think you could help me with—“

Lan found that the old man was no longer in the seat, which was currently 2 feet below its original elevation. In his place was a small sticky note saying: Gone to the can to play the tushy trumpet, be back soon.

Lan sighed and turned his attention back to the bag. He removed the lock and then unzipped the compartment containing the briefcase. 

“Whew” exclaimed Lan as he took the briefcase out of the bag, a calm smile on his face “I don’t know why, but I was half expecting for this thing to be stol—“ 

A black shape darted out of an alleyway and whipped the briefcase out of Lan’s hands, leaving the boy staring stupidly at his empty hands. Lan’s relaxed demeanor fell and then after a moment of contemplation the situation clicked in his mind.

Lan leapt to his feet and stared in the direction of the their who was now a small dot running up the hill. 

“Ignis!” shouted Lan.

The little wolf pup attempted to leap to his feet but was hindered by his bulging belly.

“You stay here and guard my bag” said Lan.

Ignis plopped back down. 

“George” shouted Lan

The monkey leapt off of Lan’s shoulders and landed on his two feet in front of the boy, saluting.

“I need you to take this to grandpa”

Lan scribbled a quick note on a piece of scrap paper: It’s been stolen! –Lan. And handed it to George.

The little monkey grabbed the note and proceeded to run in the direction of the restroom where a large cloud of smoke appeared to be rising. 

Now that that was taken care of, Lan turned back in the direction the thief had ran off in and darted after him. 

Lan was fast for his age, very very fast. It wasn’t long before he regained sight of the thief, just in time to see him duck into an alley.

Putting on an extra burst of speed, Lan blasted forwards and made it to the entrance of the alley just in time to see the thief jump from the top of a dumpster on the right and grab onto the low roof above him. Lan jumped diagonally upwards to the left and rebounded off the wall towards the top right, landing on the roof the thief was on the moment he pulled himself up.

“Halt!” shouted Lan, striking a pose holding out his right hand like the hero in a cartoon he watched did whenever he confronted a villain. “Release my bag and—“

He stopped as he finally got his first good look at the one who was holding his bag. It was a young scruffy looking Faunus boy with long black matted hair covering his eyes and a pair of doggy ears perched on the top of his head. He was wearing an extremely large cloak that wrapped around his entire body in a ball like fashion and appeared to be wearing underclothes, from what Lan could see through the gaps in the cloth.

“A Faunus?” thought Lab “Why would he want to steal those documents from me?”

Taking advantage of Lan’s momentary confusion, the boy whipped around and leapt from the edge of the rooftop they were standing on and onto another. Snapping out of his confusion, Lan quickly began to pursue the boy once again. The two of them leapt from rooftop to rooftop, their dark forms slightly illuminated by the street lamps down below. 

From the boy’s movements and physical prowess, Lan knew that the boy had experience and/or training. He would have been able to outrun any normal pursuer, but Lan was for from normal. Byakko’s torturous and life-threatening yet effective training regimes had pushed the boy’s strength and skill to far beyond normal limits. Lan gained on the boy, quickly closing the gap as they darted across the metal roofs. The boy sensed this and quickened his pace, but to no avail. Within a couple seconds Lan was right behind him, and was reaching out his hand to grab the hem of the boy’s cloak.

Suddenly, as the boy leapt forwards over a gap in the roof, he threw the briefcase to his left. Grabbing the boy’s cloak and pulling him onto the roof he was standing on, Lan watched as the briefcase rose through the air in an arc and block the glow of the moon for a brief instance before it fell. A dark shape darted out of an alleyway below, and grabbed the briefcase before falling onto another roof a couple meters away and running in the direction that the boy had originally been running in. 

“He has allies?” thought Lan, as he stared after the dark shape.

Lan prepared to sprint after the new thief, but realized that just leaving the boy there would allow him to catch up and act as a relay for the new thief in case he was caught. So Lan quickly incapacitated the Faunus boy with a quick hook to the jaw before beginning his pursuit. 

Lan leapt from rooftop to rooftop, slowly gaining on the other thief as well. But through the darkness he saw may dark shapes dart this way and that at the limits of his perception. 

Outnumbered and possibly outmaneuvered, not a good situation. 

But more importantly, this display of numbers and organized movements labeled these thieves as members of some kind of organization. Lan could understand why an organization containing scruffy Faunus children would want the documents in the briefcase, but why would they steal it from him? He was planning on turning the documents in to a noble organization in order to help all the Faunus in the area. But whatever those people needed those documents for; Lan knew for sure that it wouldn’t be good, especially if they already knew what he was planning on doing with them.

Lan was right behind the next thief now, this time anticipating the exchange. The moment Lan saw the boy shift his arms to start to throw, he flicked a pebble he was holding in his hand at the boy’s. The collision of the stone on the back of his hand caused the boy to yelp in pain and fumble his throw. The briefcase crashed onto the rooftop in front of him. The boy stopped for an instance to pick it up and was overtaken by Lan in an instant. The moment he was close enough, Lan pivoted on his left foot while bending down and threw a sweep kick that caused the Faunus boy in front of him to fall onto he back. As he fell, Lan darted forward above his collapsing frame and grabbed the suitcase from off the ground, executing a roll and then springing back to his feet. He patted the leather case and smiled, now relieved that he had the important item back in his possession. 

A shape darted out of the shadows and sped towards him at that moment. Lan had been expecting this. Tucking the briefcase under his left armpit, Lan whipped around in the direction of the shadow prepared to throw punch. However, his fist stopped mid-strike as he noticed a pair of amber eyes. 

It was the girl he had seen the first day he had arrived, the young black-haired Faunus girl that had been with the White Fang protestors. He had believed that he would never see her again after talking to one of the protestors, so he was completely unprepared and was struck by that sudden feeling of destiny once again, his mind shut down from the surprise and the muscles in his went slack.

In the moment that he was frozen from surprise, the girl leapt forwards; snatched the briefcase from under his arm; and began dashing away again. 

Having already experienced the daze once, Lan was able to snap out of it much faster than before and immediately began pursuit. 

He now knew who was intent on stealing the documents, but why? Why were the White Fang trying to steal documents that he had informed them that he was going to hand over? Why were they attempting to sabotage the first chance at progress that they had seen in a month?

He didn’t have time to think about these questions at present time though. He had to focus all his attention on catching that girl to both find out what the White Fang were planning as well as discover why she made him feel that strange sensation.

The girl wasn’t all that fast compared to the first two, being only 4 or 5 years old as far as Lan could tell, but she was quite agile and was taking advantage of her Faunus abilities quite well. She made good use of the various structures jutting out of the roofs of the buildings as well as other obstructions, detecting them quickly through the use of her race’s characteristic night vision and weaving around them and placing them right behind her, which resulted in Lan having to dodge the obstruction a soon as it popped out of the darkness. 

She was good, that was for certain, but Lan was still gaining on her. After dodging a rickety metal chimney and leaping over a rusty patch of roofing, Lan found that he was only a few meters away from her.

4 meters

He saw her look over her shoulder and grimace as she saw him.

3 meters

Lan’s breathing grew heavier as he began to sense a shift in destiny.

2 meters

He saw some of the dark shapes come closer to the two, ready to intervene the moment he caught her. No matter, he was ready for them.

1 meter

He reached out his hand. 

‘smash’

Two dark shapes burst out of the roof right in front of Lan. Startled, Lan wasn’t able to move out of the way in time and tripped as his foot collided with the larger object. He spun head over heel diagonally to the left of the girl and crashed into a chimney a little ways away. 

Lan groaned then slowly sat back up, rubbing his head as rusted metal debris fell off of him. Looking up, Lan stared at the two objects jutting out of the roof and recognized what they were as he noticed a familiar messy hairstyle.

“Hey boy!” shouted Byakko, turning to look at him and ripping apart the metal roofing as he turned his neck, “I’m here to help! Now where’s the thief?”

The man still appeared quite inebriated and was currently clutching a piece of roast meat in the hand that was also coming out of the roof.

Once again struck dumb by his grandfather’s antics, Lan was only able to gawk as his grandfather as the Faunus girl ran past him. A few seconds later he came back to his senses and whipped his head around to stare at the girl who was now disappearing into the darkness again. 

“Grandpa!” yelled Lan, leaping to his feet “Help me catch that Faunus girl!”

“Right!” shouted Byakko, bursting out of the roof the moment Lan took off running again. Lan made a mental note to pay reparations to the people who lived in that home. 

As Lan ran through the dark, he finally realized where the girl was heading. He had mapped all the pathways that he and the White Fang thieves had run during the chase, and realized that they were heaping for the city dump. Were they meeting someone there? He would find out soon, because at their current pace she would arrive there before he caught up to her.

As Lan pondered, Byakko suddenly appeared right beside him, keeping in perfect stride.

“I’ve got her!” shouted Byakko, belching holding up a Faunus girl by the leg. It was a white haired Faunus girl with horns that looked absolutely terrified.

Lan stared at the obviously frightened girl and sighed.

“I meant the girl with the briefcase up ahead.”

“Right!” said Byakko, dropping the girl, who quickly scurried away. He then darted away so quickly that Lan was unable to follow. 

From the screams that soon began to ring through the dark, Lan knew that Byakko was checking every single one of the children that were flitting through the darkness, with the exception of the girl who was actually carrying the briefcase of course. The man couldn’t do anything even remotely constructive or helpful when he was as drunk as he was. 

A few minutes later, they arrived at the dump and Lan watched as the girl leapt off the roof in front of him and descended down into the dump site below, disappearing from his sight.

Lan followed suit, landing with a squelch onto the mushy ground below. 

It was much darker in the dump, the lights from the street lamps didn’t reach in there. Lan closed his eyes and listened, completely unaffected by the smells of rotting garbage thanks to his having to put up with his grandfather’s odors. 

The Faunus girl most likely thought that she had lost him in the darkness, so she wasn’t as careful in masking the sound of her steps. It wasn’t long before he detected the tip tap of her small feet and after figuring out where they came from, he quickly and quietly followed. He soon found her. She was standing in the center of a circular patch of dirt and was reading a map. Lan hid himself behind one of the mounds of garbage, and peered around the corner. 

She hadn’t detected him yet, and that was fine by him. People are much more likely to reveal what they’re hiding when they don’t know someone’s watching after all. 

“Now where are you heading?” thought Lan “Who are you going to give that information to?”

The girl looked up from the map and began running again. Lan silently tailed behind her, flitting from trash pile to trash pile to keep himself hidden. Slowly, the trash piles got smaller and smaller and Lan found that they were approaching a large rectangular concrete building in the back of the dump area. It was a medium sized gray building with large smoke stacks jutting into the sky. Through a few broken and dilapidated windows on the second floor Lan could see flickering orange lights within, illuminating the shapes inside and casting dancing shadows onto the ground far below.

Lan saw the girl slip through a door in the side of the building and quickly followed. Opening the door a small crack, Lan peered inside. Inside he saw a large open area with piles of scrap metal as well as many large furnaces, kilns, and smelters littered about the walls. To the far right he could see bars of metal stacked against the wall. This was most likely the area of the dump that recycled thrown away metals back into usable form. Lan slipped inside the door moved behind a pile of scrap. It was stiflingly hot in there and was filled with the sounds of running machinery. Thankfully for Lan, these conditions made it increasingly difficult for him to be detected. 

He saw the girl in the center of the room, looking left and right.

“This is the meeting place huh?” thought Lan. “Let’s see what you’re hiding.”

After a few moments of watching, Lan saw the girl’s face light up as she saw something. She dashed over to the left where there was a small control panel and pressed a button on the upper right corner. The room was suddenly filled with a clanking grinding noise. Lan saw the grates on all of the furnaces fly open, revealing the seething infernos that writhed within. Lan was confused for a moment, what was the purpose of doing that? But as he saw the girl begin to walk towards one of the open furnaces he finally understood her motive.

Darting out from behind the pile of debris, Lan sprinted towards the girl.

“Wait, stop!” shouted Lan.

He realized his mistake as she turned and gave him a surprised stare. He should have ran quickly and silently without alerting her and grabbed the briefcase before she noticed he was there. Now that she was alerted to his presence, she would be filled with alarm and attempt to finish her mission faster than before. She whipped around and began running towards the nearest furnace, arriving in the time it took for Lan to cover half the distance between them. 

She raised the briefcase above her head. Lan knew he wouldn’t make it in time and screamed for her to stop, to think about all the people that could be saved with that information. She paused briefly after hearing this. But after she turned slightly and saw how close Lan was getting, she turned back to the task in front of her and consigned the case to the flames. 

Lan stopped and stared. His body went slack from the futility of his efforts and his mind went blank from the cold void of despair that filled him. He watched as the hot air sent the black ashes of the now burned documents spiraling into the air, whipping around the young girl’s long hair that casted writhing shadows on the ground around her. She turned and stared at Lan, her face masked by the shadow cast by her own frame. 

Blackness

A dark yet beautiful form that whispered of mystery, loneliness, elegance, and duty.

Lan found himself unable to tear his gaze away from the girl, enraptured once again in the tendrils of fate that crept up from his soul. The two stared at each other for a full minute, before a move was made. 

The girl darted off to the right, heading towards the nearest exit to the building. No longer held by her gaze, Lan was able to break out of his dazed state of mind and began to run after her.

‘wham’

He crashed into a large muscular frame that suddenly appeared in front of him and fell onto his back.

“Is this the one?” said Byakko, holding up yet another frightened Faunus child. 

“No!” shouted Lan, “Now move!”

He dashed past his grandpa and headed towards the now shutting door that the girl had just exited out of. He ran through and burst into the crisp night air, turning left and right and listening for some sign of the girl. It was not use, now that she knew she was being carefully followed she was most likely doing her best to mask her presence. She was gone. Lan sighed and wiped some of the now cold sweat from his brow.

Byakko came through the door and stood directly behind Lan, the man was finally sober again.

“It’s gone?” he said.

“Yeah” said Lan sadly

“Hmmm, sorry” said Byakko

“It’s okay” said Lan, “It was my responsibility anyway.”

Lan turned and looked up as a his grandpa as a new idea popped into his head. 

“Do you still have that kid you grabbed” said Lan “We might be able to get some information out of him.”

“Nope” said Byakko, “He scurried off after I dropped him, want me to go grab him again? He probably hasn’t gotten that far.”

“No,” said Lan clenching his fist. “I think I’ll just have a word with his boss. Come on, let’s head back to the party.”

It was 11:45 now, so the Jirall and Daylen would be at the party by the time Lan and Byakko got back. He needed to have word with them.  
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.  
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Lan and Byakko arrived back at the party square at around 12:10. 

Sitting around a table in the center of the area were Daylen, Jirall, Megan, and a group of White Fang members, it looks like Jirall decided not to bring every member. The Faunus workers present were obviously put off by them; there was an empty space around the White Fang group of about 3 feet on all sides.

Daylen smiled and waved as he saw Lan, a half-eaten piece of stake in front of him. The rest of the White Fang were also biting into some of the various cooked goods that Lan had placed on the serving table earlier. The only one who wasn’t eating was Jirall, who had his usual brooding frown on his face.

“Your finally here.” He said getting to his feet, “Did you bring the documents?”

“Yes,” said Lan as he and Byakko sat down on the opposite end of the table. “But they were stolen a short while ago and burned.”

Daylen’s smile disappeared and the other White Fang members began to murmur amongst each other. Jirall’s eyes narrowed and he stood up.

“Then we have no business here. But I guess that’s all I can expect from a human brat.”

The others at the table also began to rise but Lan raised his hand and stopped them.

“There’s no need to put up the act Jirall.” said Lan, “I know you were the one who ordered it.”

Lan saw Jirall’s normally unchanging disposition twitch slightly before returning to its normal state. Daylen’s head whipped upwards and stared at his brother, surprise evident on his face. 

“What are you insinuating?” said Jirall slowly.

“I recognized one of the thieves I saw today.” Said Lan “I saw her among the protestors in front of the mining gates the day I arrived. She was holding one of the signs and chanting with the others. That means she was a member of this division of the White Fang, which is currently under your jurisdiction.”

There was a brief moment of silence, which was broken when Jirall gave a dry laugh.

“Hah, so you think I’m the one responsible just because you saw someone you think is part of my division?” said Jirall, “that’s all the proof you have?”

“I know what I saw” said Lan, “I could never mistake or forget about her” he thought inwardly.

“Or could it be that you’re just trying to push your failure onto me?” said Jirall, walking around the table stopping right beside Lan. “It was your duty to safeguard the documents until we arrived and you lost them because you were incapable. Simple as that.”

Lan clenched his fist, Jirall’s words rang true.

“That you weren’t even able to guard it from some paltry thieves…you disappoint me. But, what can I expect from humans, you people never keep your words.”

“Do I disappoint you too kid?” said Byakko.

Jirall turned and faced the large man.

“Yes” said Jirall, staring him right in the eye “As a fellow Faunus, yes you do. Come on everyone, we’re leaving.”

The rest of the White Fang got up and followed Jirall as he walked away.

“Um, thanks for the meal.” Said Daylen as he and Megan passed by Lan.

“It was really good” said Megan.

The two of them ran forward and caught up with Jirall, talking to him in whispers as they walked away. 

Lan sighed and sunk back into his chair. He felt two familiar weights plop down onto his feet and looked down to see Ignis and George, both of whom had concerned looks on their faces.

“I’m fine,” said Lan, patting them on the head “Just a little tired.”

“I knew this kind of thing would happen” said Byakko, sitting down next to Lan.

“But as always you kept quiet so I could get some life experience.” Said Lan, rubbing his eyes.

“Yep” said Byakko, “Heard Jirall say something to Daylen the day we first met’em. It was after we had left the room.”

“There’s your super-hearing again” said Lan. “What did he say?”

“That we could be useful to their plans”

The two sat there for a few minutes staring at the bonfire burning in front of them. 

“I thought they wanted a peaceful resolution.” Said Lan after few minutes “Something that could help them bring change without bloodshed.”

“It’s impossible to completely understand what someone else wants.” Said Byakko “It’s something I’ve learned time and time again.”

“Mmmm” grunted Lan.

The adrenalin had worn off by this point and he found himself very tired. He gazed into the firelight for minute longer, but soon found himself unable to keep his eyes open. 

“Just rest boy” said Byakko, ruffling his hair “It’s been a long day for you.”

“Grandpa?”

“Hmmmm?”

“Was this really because I was too weak?”

“No it wasn’t” said Byakko, sitting back into his chair. “You’re incredibly strong for your age and still growing, heck you can kick an ursa’s ass faster than it can blink! If anything, it’s because those bozos weren’t honest.” 

Lan smiled and closed his eyes, falling into a contented yet at the same time distraught sleep as the tendrils of fire light danced across his closed eyelids.  
.  
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Later that night

“Jirall” said Daylen, “Why?”

Jirall, who was lying on his bed and wearing a tank top and jeans, looked up from the report he was reading and stared at Daylen.

The two of them were now aboard their airship, in their bedroom in the back. One side of the room was extremely clean and orderly with all the clothes neatly folded by the well-made bed, this side belonged to Daylen. The other side was extremely messy with clothes and reports strewn all around, this was Jirall’s side. 

“Why what?” said Jirall.

“Why did you send our youngest members to dispose of the reports? Said Daylen “Those documents could have helped us, not to mention you exposed those children to undue risk.”

“Yes” said Jirall “That kid recognized one of them. It’ll be a problem if he sees her or any of the other kids with us. We’ll have to send them back to their previous divisions tomorrow. They were only temporary help anyways.”

“Jirall” shouted Daylen, appalled. “None of this is necessary!”

“Isn’t it?” said Jirall, sitting up “If those documents were exposed and that that scumbag Siemans replaced, then the boiling anger that the Faunus here have been accumulating could disappear altogether. You know that we’ll need that for our operation”

“But this could really improve their lives” Said Daylen “I’m sure we’d be able to launch the operation just fine even if we didn’t have them work with us.”

“So what if their lives get a little better?” said Jirall “And that’ll only happen if the one sent to replace Siemans is a trustworthy person, which I highly doubt. Not only will things just get worse again after a while, but there won’t be any progress for the rest of our race. The atrocities that are committed towards our people continue every hour, every minute, every second! Our peaceful protests aren’t budging the powers at be an inch, everyone can see this.” Jirall paused for a moment; he could see his brother’s unstable state of mind.

“We’ve been given a chance” he said after a few moments “A chance to finally make a difference and we need to take it, no matter the cost…Our young members played their part well” Jirall leaned back onto the bed “but now they need to leave, both for their own safety and for the cause.”

Daylen stared at his brother, an anguished look on his face. He then began to pace around the room, stopping here and there, about to say something, but then shaking his head and continuing to pace.

After the fifth round, he was finally able to speak up.

“Brother, I’m not sure I can do this anymore.” Said Daylen, bringing his arms down in a helpless gesture. “Just thinking about all the lives that could be lost—“

Jirall slammed the report he was reading onto the table by his bed. Daylen shut up immediately.

“Lives lost?” said Jirall, “Hundreds, maybe even thousands of our kin die every day around the world thanks to what humans force upon us and you complain about the lives that will be lost in the operation? Did mother’s death teach you nothing, do you not remember how she died in the mines from overwork?”

“N-no” said Daylen, raising his arms “I just—“

“This needs to be done!” said Jirall, his words quiet but still carrying a powerful tone “We’ve tried our leader’s methods and they just haven’t worked! We’re still living our lives as second class citizens while all those humans look down on us with scorn!”

“But” started Daylen, “people like Lan—“

“Are too few and far between to make a difference!” shouted Jirall “We need to take matters into our own hands in the only way those humans will understand!”

Daylen, already mentally exhausted from worrying over the topic for months, collapsed onto the bed and covered his face with his hands.

Jirall sighed, walked over, and placed a hand on Daylen’s shoulder.

“Regardless, we’ve already come too far.” Said Jirall “We almost have enough firepower and the espionage was already finished a long time ago. Just a little longer and we’ll be ready to act…We’ll finally start changing the world.”

Daylen looked up at his brother. He then shut his eyes, tightening his whole face from the stress he was feeling, and then after a few minutes he relaxed and let out a long sigh. 

“Okay brother…I’ll…do my best.”

“That’s all I ask” said Jirall, turning back to his bed.

The two then passed the rest of the night in silence, things would begin soon, their preparations were almost complete and their subordinates ready for action. All that was needed now was the right trigger, a flame strong enough to light to the fuse, a flame that was already beginning to burn in the troubled heart of the man who stood at the top of the time.

Sorry about the delay everyone, I just started college last week and getting adjusted to the new place. I managed to find more time after a dropped a really time consuming class though, so I should be able to pick up the pace once again.

Also, do you guys think my story is unconflicting enough with the canon story to be absorbed into it? That’s my major reason for writing this so I would honestly like to hear your opinions on it as well as any suggestions you have on bettering this tale.

Wish me luck, and I hope you continue to enjoy my stories. Next week Jirall and Daylen’s plan goes into action. Look forward to it!


	24. Chapter 24

Ch 24

Siemans sat in his office sweating profusely. He had no choice but to end the investigation and open the mines tomorrow if he didn’t want his superiors to become suspicious and was no closer to finding those documents than the day the investigation began. 

Since there hadn’t been any storm of news coverage from the major stations within the first day or two after the documents went missing, he was sure that the thieves wanted something from him specifically. He had expected them to contact him, making demands that he would have paid a hundred fold if it would have gotten those documents back. He had prepared exorbitant amounts of lien, piles of classified Schnee company files, and information on dozens of his subordinates that someone may have a grudge with and had waited. 

Nothing.

There had been no contact, no threat, nothing. 

“It’s okay Siemans” he whispered to himself “You’ve been through worse; you’ve had to crawl through the darkest parts of management to get where you are. You’ve experienced blackmail, extortion, and even death threats and made it out in great shape. You can do this. You can do this.”

He didn’t believe his own words of course. The information could completely destroy him if they were revealed to his superiors. This wasn’t something little like the company’s controversial Faunus labor policies, his superiors didn’t care enough about that to make a big deal about it, especially since those practices churned out such a large profit. But if they found out that he had secretly been selling large amounts of purified dust to third parties without their knowing, he could kiss his position goodbye. 

He was being mentally driven into corner. He didn’t know what was going to happen. Would he be blackmailed? Would his superiors be alerted to it? Or would this incident blow over without anything serious happening. In any case he had to be prepared. He needed to get some insurance.

The previous day, he had contacted a special underground arms dealer that could be dealt with without his superiors finding out and had ordered their best weaponry. They wouldn’t be able to help much if his superiors were to find out about his actions, but they would be more than sufficient in taking care of any other problems. The transaction, however, had drained an extremely large portion of his assets and since the account code needed to withdraw the money that the third parties had sent him had been in the documents that were stolen, he didn’t have his usual financial cushion. As a result his finances were, in his opinion, a mess. 

He lifted a glass by his hand and sipped, grimacing as the fragrant fluid trickled down his throat.

“Swill” he said, setting the glass of brandy down “But I’ve got to pinch my pennies for now.”

At that moment the screen on his desk flickered to life with Mr. Kenichi’s tired face filling it. 

“What do you want Mr. Kenichi?” said Siemans who rubbed his eyes. “I’m not in a good mood so make it quick.”

“I have just finished writing up the new pay records for the Faunus” said Mr. Hiroshi, with a weak smile “as their production has increased dramatically recently due to the arrival of their new equipment, as per your previous arrangement, their pay is scheduled to raise according—“

“What?!” shouted Siemans, bolting upright. 

To supplement his now hurting funds, Siemans had once again diverted what he believed to be extraneous funds, which included the extra pay promised to the Faunus workers, to his own personal account. 

“Cancel that immediately!” shouted Siemans

“But sir!” said Mr. Kenichi “You’ve been promising these raises for weeks, if the workers find out that it was all hot air, things could become violent.”

“Then just increase it on paper for now” said Siemans, “make them think they’re getting more, but don’t pay those animals any more lien than they are receiving now, and if there are any dissenters, we’ll deal with them the usual way.”

Mr. Kenichi opened his mouth to state an opposing opinion, but as he looked into Mr. Siemans’s angry bloodshot eyes, he lost his nerve and gave a weak nod before ending the transmission. 

Mr. Siemans leaned back in the desk and closed his eyes to rest for a moment, but there was suddenly a knock on the door. He growled, stood up, and walked over to the door.

“I have informed everyone that I’m not to be disturbed!” he shouted, flinging open the door “So ge—“

His voice caught in his throat as he stared into the shadowed face of the black hooded figure standing in front of him. The first thing that came to his mind was that it must be an assassin and was about to yell for help, but stopped as the figure held up a small form. 

“The first shipment of your order” said the man in a soft voice “where would you like us to put it?”

It was an operative from the arms dealer that was selling him the weapons.

Relieved, Mr. Siemans grabbed the paper and gave it a once over before giving a quick nod. 

“How long until the rest arrives?” asked Siemans.

“They shall all be here by the end of the week” said hooded figure.

“Well, anyways, lock all the weaponry in the most secure vault in the guardsman’s armory” said Siemans “and as for the ‘special’, put it in my private warehouse.”

“Very well.” Said the man.

Mr. Siemans looked down to his side and unclipped two keycards from his belt.

“To get in, you’ll be needing the—“

He stopped mid-sentence as he looked up and found that the man had already disappeared. He looked to the left, then the right, and then shrugged and returned back into his office.

“At least something’s going right.” Thought Siemans, plopping down in his chair.  
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‘Tap tap tap’

Lan watched as the rock he kicked a few moments ago bounced down the street. It was the middle of afternoon and the sun was high in the sky. As he walked down the gray street lined with concrete buildings and illuminated by the yellow rays of the sun with his hands in his pockets and a small frown on his face, he pondered what Jirall had told him the night before. 

Weakness. He hadn’t given it much thought because no one had really brought it up before, but now that someone had just came out and said it, he couldn’t get it out of his mind. That morning when he had awoken, Byakko had sensed this and had told Lan to go out and clear his head. The old man knew that training wouldn’t be productive with that attitude. 

That’s why Lan was walking through the streets now, as he had been for hours. Ignis and George had of course wanted to come with him, but Byakko had ordered them to stay home, saying that Lan needed to think through this dilemma on his own.

As he had walked aimlessly from point A to point B, Lan had begun to connect those words Jirall had spoken to a memory that he had been trying his best to forget: The night when that Grimm came. He had remembered the corpses of his family, their mutilated forms, and their sightless dead eyes; illuminated by the fires that burned through what had been his home. 

Originally he had followed what Byakko had said about the incident: that it wasn’t his fault, it was just bad luck, it was that Grimm’s fault, and that he should just move on. But now he began to ask himself more and more “what if I had been stronger? Would I have been able to save them all in time?”

Being the young child he was, he didn’t have the answers of course. He simply kept walking and pondering, only stopping here and there to grab a drink, eat something, or use the restroom. 

By this time he had now begun to inwardly realize the futility of his current actions. Sighing, he stopped and stared up into the noonday sun, grabbing the straps of the enormous backpack that he almost always carried on his back.

“I guess I should just forget about it for now.” He thought “I’ll think about it later when I know I can find the answers.”

He turned around to head back home when suddenly a voice called out to him.

“Hey, you over there!” someone shouted. 

Lan turned his head and stared in the direction of the voice. 

Across the street from him was a colorful playground area filled with slides, jungle gyms, and a variety of other playground equipment. A group of children were standing in the center of the area. The child who had called out to him appeared to be the leader, a young boy with spiky blond hair who was holding a rubber ball under his arm.

“I’ve never seen you around here before.” Said the boy “did you just move here?”

Lan shook his head. “I moved here around a month ago. It’s just that I don’t go out much when I’m not on duty.”

“Well do you wanna play with us?” asked the boy “We need one more person to make the teams even!”

Lan thought for a moment and shrugged. 

“Why not” he said, walking over to the playground. “I need something to get yesterday off my mind anyway.” He thought.

Lan walked over to the group of kids, set his bag down near a bench at the edge of the playground, and came to a stop right in front of the boy who called out to him. 

“Well, first things first.” Said the boy, setting the ball down, “I’m gonna need you to kick this ball as hard as—“

The boy was cut off as the ball rocketed past his face, launched forward by the force of Lan’s kick. It smacked into the wall at the back of the play area, and then ricocheted back towards the group of children, who scattered to avoid being struck by the rubber projectile. The ball then proceeded to ricochet all over the playground while the children, with the exception of Lan of course, huddled on the ground covering their heads. With one final smack, the ball bounced off the jungle gym and sped towards the side of Lan’s head.

“Ah look ou—“started a boy.

With a deft movement, Lan blocked the ball with the palm of his hand, without even turning his head to look at it, and stood there with a calm expression on his face as the ball slowly spun to a stop.

The children gawked as they rose to their feet, dumbstruck by Lan’s show of physical prowess.

“He’s on my team!” shouted a girl after a few minutes.

“No he’s on my team!” shouted a boy.

After quibbling over whose team Lan would be on for a few minutes, the children began the game. Lan’s team had significantly fewer members as opposed to the other one, but still steamrolled the other team as Lan scored shot after shot as the other kids tried desperately to catch up with him. 

The children soon realized that things weren’t exactly fair, even after they turned the game into an all vs. Lan match, so they relegated Lan to the position of referee and split into two almost equal sized teams. After that they played long into the afternoon, switching to new games whenever they became bored. As they ran, jumped, laughed, and tackled each other; the sky slowly began to change from calm blue to a bright orange hue. 

Sitting down on the end of a slide, Lan watched and smiled as the children playing tag, the one who was it knew by now that he would never be able to catch Lan and had turned his attention towards the less physically adept around him. It was peaceful, a pure scene that would glow gold in Lan’s mind for many years to come. Lan leaned back on the slide, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a stick of cherry taffy. 

“Grandpa’s right” thought Lan, a he peeled off the wrapper “I’ll get strong enough to handle things eventually. For now I’ll just relax.”

Sadly, peace never truly stays in this cruel world of ours.

Lan had brought the taffy to his mouth and was about to take a bite when he heard a clink and an exclamation of pain coming from the road. Lan turned his head in the direction of the sound and saw a group of scraggly dressed Faunus children, each carrying a paper bag full of food. It was common to see the Faunus children going grocery shopping while their parents worked on various tasks at home, such as patching up the holes in their homes or repairing their working clothes or equipment. One of them had stubbed his toe on a rock, and was rubbing his toe while the rest of the group waited for him. Thinking that they might need a hand, Lan stood up and started to call out to them.

At that moment, a small stone flew through the air and struck one of the children in the side of the forehead, causing him to shriek and drop the bag he was holding. The other children yelped and gathered around to help their friend.

“Faunus!” yelled one of the children behind Lan. 

“Out of your animal pen are you?” yelled another. 

“I bet I can break that one’s horn!” shouted a boy pointing at a small bovine Faunus boy.

The human boys and girls behind Lan then began to throw pebbles and small stones at the Faunus, some of them laughing every time their projectile struck one of their targets. The children dropped their groceries as the first volley struck them, staggering backwards as they lifted up their hands to defend themselves. They tried to quickly pick up their groceries and run away, but were impeded by the strengthening barrage and were forced to huddle down in the streets to prevent stones from striking them in the face.

“Come on!” shouted the leader of the kids, “Move around more, we need better targ—“

A fist crashed into the side of his mouth, squishing the boy’s features and sending a tooth flying out of his mouth. The boy crashed onto the ground screaming and grasping his mouth, a trickle of blood seeping through his fingers. The other children stopped their barrage, many of their hands in mid-throw, and turned to stare at Lan, who pulled back his fist. 

“What the—“said one boy.

“What was that for?” cried another child as the group began to huddle around their fallen leader.

“Cut…it…out” said Lan, motioning towards the Faunus children who were now peeking in Lan’s direction to see why the barrage had stopped. 

“Why?” shouted the largest boy in the group who growled as he rounded on Lan.

“Why should we leave those animals alone? My dad told me that they’re as good as pack animals, and we can use them how we want.”

“And he’s wrong.” Said Lan, flatly.

“No he’s not!” shouted the boy.

“And why is he not wrong?” Said Lan

“Cause he’s my dad!” shouted the boy “He’s always right!”

“And for what reason is he always right?” asked Lan.

“Cause he’s my dad!” shouted the boy.

“And for what reason is the fact that he is your father mean that he is always right?” asked Lan.

“Well, that’s” stuttered the boy, who was obviously limited in mental capacity “because…because.”

“You can’t give me a logical reason can you?” said Lan, calmly “That proves that your argument is faulty.”

The boy had gone very red in the face at this point and was shaking with anger. 

“I’ll show you who’s faulty!” he shouted, swinging his fist at Lan. Big mistake.

Lan side stepped the boy’s clumsy boy, and threw a counter that connected with the boy’s chin. Lan didn’t put much of his own force behind the blow of course; otherwise he would have completely shattered the boy’s jaw. The boy crumpled onto the ground unconscious and Lan turned his gaze upwards to the rest of the now frightened human children. 

“You’ll be leaving them alone now.” Said Lan, a sharp edge in his voice “Right?”

The children nodded. A few boys and girls ran forward to carry the supine form the large unconscious boy, while the rest of them slowly backed away from Lan and out of the playground. After the retrieval team had dragged the large boy out of the playground, the leader of the children walked out of the group, his mouth covering his hand and tears streaming down from his narrowed angry eyes. 

“You’re not allowed to play with us anymore!” he shouted.

“Fine!” shouted Lan “I wouldn’t want to play with you bunch of racists either.”

The boy growled at this, his eyes fixed on Lan as the other children, who were sending fearful glances in Lan’s direction, began to drag him away.

“I’m going to tell my dad about this!” shouted the boy “Then you’ll be sorry!”

“That’s what they all say.” Shouted Lan, who turned his back on the boy and began walking towards the Faunus children who were currently gathering the groceries that had fallen out of their bags. 

“You’ll be sorry!” shouted the boy one more time as his friends dragged him around a corner.

Lan stopped in front of the group of Faunus children and knelt down in front of them. 

“You guys alright?” he asked with a warm smile.

“Y-yeah.” Stuttered a young monkey Faunus boy.

“Just a little bruised is all” said a little girl.

“This happens all the time.”

Lan gave a sigh and then began helping them pick up the groceries. After the last package had been placed back into the bags, Lan straightened up and gave the kids a once over. They were all around his age, give or take a few years, and were all badly bruised or bleeding from the rocks that had struck them just now. 

“They can’t go home like this,” thought Lan, as he watched a young boy with blood trickling from a wound on his forehead try to lift up one of the bags “If they try to go home without treating those wounds they’ll likely collapse.”

Lan walked over to who appeared to be the oldest one in the group and asked if they would like to take a little rest before heading back home.

“Oh, no…sir” said the boy, obviously nervous.

“You don’t need to call me sir” said Lan.

“O-ok” said the boy “But anyway, we have to be heading home soon and—“

With a deft movement, Lan whisked the grocery bag he was holding out of his arms and onto a bench right behind him. 

“You guys aren’t going anywhere until you get a good rest. Is that clear?”

Astonished by Lan’s swift movement, the boy could only nod slowly and motion for the other kids to take a seat on the bench. Nodding with satisfaction, Lan walked over to his backpack and pulled out one of the many first aid kits he kept inside (with a Grandfather like Byakko, you could never have enough.). He then set about treating the children: washing their wounds with antibacterial spray and bandaging them. As he did this he gave each of them some fruity hard candy that he kept in his bag to help them calm down.

He finished basic treatment for most of the children after a couple minutes, but as he began bandaging the knee of a smiling feline Faunus boy a shout split the quiet orange evening. 

“That’s him dad!” shouted a familiar voice. “That’s the guy that knocked my tooth out!”

Lan turned his head and looked down the street in the direction of the voice. Standing there was the leader of the group of kids and a large muscular man that Lan took to be his father. 

“Alright kid” said the man walking towards Lan “I’m going to need you to take responsibility for—“

He stopped dead in his tracks as Lan stood up and turned to face him. Recognition appeared in the man’s eyes. After taking a moment to scrutinize his appearance, Lan recognized the man as one of the guards in the mines, a Mr. Jericho, which meant that he was well aware of Lan’s martial prowess. 

“Good evening Mr. Jericho.” Said Lan with a slight smile “Do you have any business with me?”

Mr. Jericho hesitated for a moment, but his expression hardened after he glanced back at his son. No father wants to look pathetic in front of their child. 

“Yeah” he said, stepping forwards “you injured my son and I’m here to get him justice.”

“Yeah, you go dad!” shouted the boy.

“Justice?” said Lan, tilting his head slightly to the side. “Did your boy not mention the fact that he was tormenting these boys and girls behind me?”

“Yeah” said Mr. Jericho “but they’re just Faunus, an expendable work force, not good honest citizens like us.”

Lan sighed, another racist.

“I hardly think that terrorizing your fellow man makes you a good citizen.” Said Lan

“Wha—fellow man?” said Mr. Jericho, bewildered “Their just Fau—“

“Who are still a race of mankind.” Interrupted Lan. “Just like everyone else they get hurt, think for themselves, and cherish those most precious to them. They are people just like you and me.”

“He’s not going to listen to reason dad!” shouted the boy “Kick his ass and make him learn.”

Lan could see sweat forming on the man’s brow. He was obviously unsure of whether he could win in a fair fight or not.

“You know you won’t be able to win.” Said Lan calmly, “I suggest that you cut your losses here and just return home.”

The man’s eyes narrowed as the last word left Lan’s mouth; he glanced behind at his son again and returned his gaze back to Lan. From his expression, Lan could tell that he wouldn’t be backing down. 

“Why are they always too pig-headed to see reason?” thought Lan.

Mr. Jericho reached down into his pocket and pulled out a small silver tube that unfolded into a standard issue shock baton. Lan obviously didn’t have his baton on him and the man wanted to press his advantages as far as he could.

“Very well” said Lan, entering into a fighting stance (where he turned his body side ways to his opponent to decrease the area that could be attacked, placed his front leg forward in a bent position, his back leg behind him in a straight position, and brought up his arms with his fists balled into loose fists) “If that is your wish, then I’ll end this quickly.”

Usually, the one who made the first move in a one on one match would be at a disadvantage, but with the difference in skill level between the two of them, Lan didn’t even need to consider that factor. Lan ducked down and dashed forward towards the man. Surprised by Lan’s immediate action, the man clumsily swung his baton towards Lan. Putting on an extra spurt of speed, Lan easily dodged the weapon and entered into a crouching position between the man’s legs.

As for his next move, you guessed it. Lan pushed himself upwards by straightening his legs and threw an uppercut into the man’s groin. The man let out a grunt of pain and bent down, his muscles slackening in the process. Pivoting on his left foot Lan threw a side kick at the man’s hand, sending the baton flying into a nearby trash can. He then leapt backwards and tilted his knee upwards to nail the man in the side of the jaw. Strikes to the jaw spin the brain, and as a result can easily knock out the unprepared. Mr. Jericho, being knocked off balance by the strike to his groin, fit into that category. The man was knocked out before he even began to fall. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as he fell to his knees and with a crash he crumpled onto the ground as Lan began walking back to the Faunus kids who were staring wide-eyed at their returning hero. Lan then pulled out a communication device to report Mr. Jericho’s actions and unconscious state to the nearest guard outpost; they would come and pick him up soon enough. 

“Are you all ready to go back home now?” asked Lan, as Mr. Jericho’s son ran to his unconscious father.

The Faunus children slowly nodded their heads. Lan smiled.

“Would you like me to escort you all back home?”

Once again, nodding all around. 

A few of the kids still couldn’t walk properly though, since the stones that had been thrown had struck them in the knees and ankles. To remedy this, Lan opened up some of the biggest zippers in his backpack and helped those kids crawl into them before hoisting the bag onto his back. He grunted under the excess weight, but it was still nothing compared to when Byakko made him fill the backpack with rocks for training. 

Lan and then kids then headed towards the Faunus district, groceries in hand, and walking in peace. They did attract many stares on the way back though. After all, having little children pop out of the upper pockets of a backpack and stare in wonder at the new scene spreading out before them wasn’t something a normal person would expect.   
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1 week later

Mr. Siemans’s office

“Excuse me sir.”

Mr. Siemans looked up from a report he was reading and into the nervous eyes of Mr. Kenichi. 

“What is it?” asked Mr. Siemans, annoyed.

“Well, it’s just that some of the Faunus have started to notice that their wages have dropped even though their productivity has increased.” Said Mr. Kenichi in a nervous voice. “With their loyalty to the company already low thanks to their poor working conditions and low pay, there is a possibility that things could get violent.”

“Then just fire them.” Said Mr. Siemans, looking back down “Kick them out and bring in some new ones, there’ll always be people desperate enough to work for less, and those Faunus are no exception.”

“But” started Mr. Kenichi “The Faunus wouldn’t just sit back and allow that to happen, being kicked out would be like a death sentence for them since the town is surrounded by Grimm infested wilds. They would definitely riot!” 

“In that case.” Said Mr. Siemans “Tell the guards that they have permission to use lethal force.”

Mr. Kenichi’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth to voice an objection, but was cowed into silence by his superior’s murderous gaze. He pursed his lips and nodded slowly.

“Also make sure those two don’t cause any unnecessary interruptions.”

Mr. Kenichi nodded again and then slowly plodded out of the office.

The moment the door shut, Mr. Siemans’s leaned back in his chair and sighed. 

“Hopefully all these problems can be fixed soon.” He said.

Mr. Siemans closed his eyes and kicked back to relax for a little while, never realizing that his room had been bugged. In each corner of the room, hidden behind one of the pieces of furniture, were small microphones engraved with the symbol of the White Fang.  
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“One, Two, Three” shouted Lan, each count followed by a strike to the stone in front of him.

It was early morning and he was hard at work helping the Faunus mine for Dust. 

“Come on boy!” shouted Byakko, who was trimming his long toenail with an electric hacksaw (that had had its blade broken three time I might add). “Smash that stone, I know you can do better than—Aw darn it!” the new blade on the hacksaw that he had just changed shattered. “Ahhh guess I’ll have to do it the old fashioned way.” Byakko pulled his foot up to his mouth and began biting off his toenails.

Lan chuckled to himself and continued to punch. At that moment one of the workers ran into the room, holding a large red sign. It meant that some of the mining operation’s non-Faunus employees were coming. Lan couldn’t let himself be seen helping the Faunus or their pay would be docked. He leapt backwards into the center of the room and began trying to look for a way to make himself appear ‘guard like’ and not ‘worker like’, however, him being covered in dried dirt from his punching was not something that could be easily covered up in a short period of time. Unluckily for Lan, Byakko had a good solution.

A moment later Mr. Kenichi walked into the cavern.

“Good afternoon fellows.” He said nervously “How are you this fine—“

He stopped as he witnessed the scene in the center of his room.

“Good morning Mr. Kenichi” said Byakko “lovely morning isn’t it.”

“Uh Mr. Muteki?” said Mr. Kenichi “What are you doing to your grandson?”

“My boy is assisting me in trimming my toenails!” said Byakko “In the best way I know how!”

Right before Mr. Kenichi walked into the room, Byakko had gotten Lan involved in the same task he had been occupying himself with, trimming his toenails. Unfortunately for Lan, Byakko had made it look like the boy was using the same method to cut the toenail that he himself had just been using. As a result the boy had his grandfather’s foot shoved up his mouth. 

Lan struggled to remove the foul smelling appendage from his mouth, but Byakko’s hand kept the boy’s head firmly in place. 

“So” said Byakko, biting off another nail and spitting it into the wall, which created a small crater I might add “Whatcha here for?”

“Oh yes, well” started Mr. Kenichi after regaining some of his composure. “We were a little short handed in the office today, so we were wondering if you two could come help us, and for your efforts you’ll be receiving a little bonus. Isn’t that great?” Mr. Kenichi gave the two of them a nervous smile.

“Hmmm office work.” Said Byakko, scratching his chin “Sounds like fun! Let’s go boy!”

Byakko’s grip finally loosened at this point and Lan was able to pull the man’s foot out of his mouth. Lan collapsed to the floor coughing and gagging as brackish liquid poured out of his maw. 

“Off we go!” shouted Byakko, who leapt forward and seized Mr. Kenichi by the shoulders.

“Not again” whimpered Mr. Kenichi.

As Byakko ran out of the room carrying a once again horrified Mr. Kenichi above his head, Lan got up and turned back to the workers. 

“Anyone got poster board or something like that” gurgled Lan through a mouth full of mouthwash, a purple bottle grasped in his right hand.

The lookout came over to Lan and handed the boy the board. Lan wrote on it while brushing his teeth, and then gave it to the leader of the group, Milton, while he was wiping his mouth with disinfectant. 

“That’s got the instructions for the lunch box” said Lan, motioning to a mining cart he had hid the food in “You guys have a good meal when the time comes.”

Lan then dashed out of the cavern after his grandfather.  
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The mining office building later that day.

“Here are those reports you wanted Mr. Kenichi”

Lan handed Mr. Kenichi a neat stack of papers.

“Why thank you Lan” said Mr. Kenichi, taking them “I must say my boy, you adjusted to office work extremely quickly.”

“Yep” said Lan. “Now where do I put these documents I just finished organizing?”

The boy hefted up large stack of documents as tall as he was. Mr. Kenichi stared at the pile of documents and then back at Lan.

“Um, how long did it take you to go through all these?” he asked.

“Around an hour.” Said Lan with a smile.

Mr. Kenichi stared at Lan for a moment and then turned back to his table.

“Adjusting a little too well.” He murmured under his breath.

“Hmmm?” said Lan.

“Oh, nothing.” Said Mr. Kenichi. “Just set those in the In-box at our department desk. Oh! And how is your grandpa doing?”

“Well he’s not really fit for office work.” Said Lan “So he’s working as a motivational figure!”

“What do you mean by—“

At that moment the office was filled with a loud yell.

“THESE PAPERS WERE DUE AN HOUR AGO!!!” shouted a familiar voice. “RAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!”

A few moments later an office worker ran right past the entrance to Mr. Kenichi’s office, screaming while holding a pile of papers to his chest, many of which were flying into the air as he ran. A second later Byakko, wearing a sports helmet and letting out a war cry, also ran pass the entrance from the same direction. A second after that there was the sound of a loud impact, a crunch, and a few seconds later the sound of Byakko criticizing the likely heavily injured office worker.

Lan and Mr. Kenichi stared at the empty doorway for a moment before turning back to each other.

“He makes sure nobody slacks off.” Said Lan with a smile. “It’s been very affective so far.”

“Uh, huh.” Said Mr. Kenichi with a blank stare.

“Oh would you look at the time.” Said Lan, staring at a clock “It’s about time to sign off. I’ll go get grandpa so we can go home with the workers just like we do every day!”

“Wa-Wait” said Mr. Kenichi, grabbing Lan’s arm as the boy turned to go “the office job lasts, uh, later than a normal shift, that’s one of the reasons you get paid more.”

“Okay” said Lan with a shrug after a short pause, “I’m not one to quit in the middle of something anyway.”

Mr. Kenichi let out a soft sigh as Lan turned to leave his office. 

“Please let things go smoothly.” He prayed “Just let things blow over for today, then we can fix it come tomorrow.”

Over the course of the day, Mr. Kenichi had been going over dozens and dozens of expense forms and cutting down wasted funds in the departments to miniscule amounts. After he entered the new expense sheet into the accounting system, the Faunus could be properly paid for their work the following day. 

He knew how hard all of the workers worked and sympathized with how much they suffered. After all, he himself worked night and day to satisfy the demands of his superiors and was forced to make sacrifice after sacrifice so he could keep his job and continue supporting his family. He understood the pain that the Faunus felt, understood that it was pain even greater than what he experienced. At least he could keep food on the table and take care of all his family’s needs, but them…they couldn’t even have that. Empathizing with this, Mr. Kenichi just couldn’t let things go like this without doing his utmost to set things right. 

He wouldn’t get done before the workers’ shift ended today, there were just too many documents to go through, but if things just stayed stable until the next day then—

‘Crash’

The sound of glass breaking echoed from the right side of the hallway. Mr. Kenichi whipped his head up from his desk. If that was what he thought it was, then things were beginning to get dire. 

“Lan please wait— he started, but the boy had already dashed out of the room in the direction of the noise. 

Mr. Kenichi ran after the boy hoping, no, praying that the sound wasn’t what he thought it was. That it was just the sound of a clumsy office worker dropping some glass object or—. 

He stopped in his tracks as he came to the area where the noise came from, his hopes completely dashed as he saw what Lan was standing next to. Lodged in the window facing the courtyard of the mining operation was a large pickaxe, its point sticking into the thick glass while its handle hung outside. Mr. Kenichi walked over to the window and stared down. Outside were the workers, swarming the courtyard like a multitude of ants and filling the air with exclamations of anger.

“No” thought Mr. Kenichi, his hands trembling “a little more time—I j-just needed a little more time!”

He turned to Lan hoping to at least be able to secure the boy’s aid. But all that appeared in front of him when he turned was empty space. The boy had already gone.  
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Lan dashed through the hallways. Things were bad. He didn’t know what exactly was going on, but he knew things were very very bad.

“Grandpa!” yelled Lan as the old man came into sight.

“N’Yes?” said Byakko with a pleasant smile as he held a quickly asphyxiating man in a headlock.

“Courtyard, Workers, Big trouble!” Shouted Lan.

Understanding immediately, Byakko released the worker, who gratefully crawled away, and dashed towards the elevator along with Lan. Arriving in the few seconds, Byakko pressed the down button. The moment Lan caught up to him the doors to the elevator opened and the two of them dashed in. Lan pressed the button for the bottom floor and then the two of them began their descent.

“Really wish the stairs didn’t need keycards” said Lan while bobbing his head to the elevator music.

“Yup.” Said Byakko.

A few moments later the doors opened and the two of them dashed through the lobby and into the courtyard. 

A tide of workers spread out in front of them, barely kept at bay by guards with shields and shock batons.

“Where’s the rest of our pay?” shouted one worker from the crowd. “It’s even lower than last week!”

“You promised to increase our wages if our productivity went up!” cried another. “My family will starve like this!”

“What the heck’s goin on here.” Shouted Byakko

“From what I can tell” said Lan “the workers are mad that they weren’t paid what they were promised.”

“Mmmhmmm” said Byakko scratching his chin “production should have gone way up by now.”

“I think we all know who’s responsible for this.” Said Lan.

“Yeah” said Byakko “and—“the old man paused and sniffed the air. “Well, speak of the devil.”

“Out of the way!” cried Siemans as he pushed his way out of the building. Lan and Byakko stepped to the side to let him through, he was technically still their boss after all. 

Instead of his usual pristine white suit and clean appearance, he was wearing a wrinkled white dress shirt and black pants with his tie hanging loosely from his neck. His eyes also had dark circles under them; he obviously hadn’t been sleeping well.

“What is going on here!?” he shouted over the crowd, his right eye twitching like a madman.

“Our pay!” shouted Milton, “Where’s the rest of our pay?”

“You’ve gotten your pay!” shouted Siemans angrily, his voice grating from exhaustion.

“It’s not what you promised!” shouted Milton.

“You animals should be grateful you’re being paid at all!” shouted Siemans, a line of spittle flying from his mouth “so shut up and get back to your stables for the night!”

A roar of outrage erupted from the crowd of Faunus.

“That’s it.” Someone from the crowd yelled “Get’em!”

Like a surging torrent the workers crashed against the wall of guards, punching and kicking at the barriers that blocked their way. The guards were visibly under intense physical strain and were beginning to buckle from the weight, barely able to keep the tide back with their stun batons. It was only a matter of time before they would be overrun. 

Lan shifted nervously from left foot to right foot. Which side should he help? What would bring the best result? 

The decision was made for him a few moments later.

“GUARDS!” yelled Mr. Siemans “SET THE BATONS ON THE MAXIMUM SETTING!”

Lan’s eyes widened and he and Byakko dashed forward to try and stop them. Byakko managed to incapacitate two of the guards thanks to his inhuman speed, but as for the rest it was too late. 

With a whizzing sound, all the guards pressed a button on their batons. The weapons took on a vibrant yellow hue and became covered with lines of crackling yellow energy. The guards brought the weapon forward and struck the Faunus nearest to them. With a crackling blasting sound, the Faunus that was struck and those around them were covered with a layer of sizzling energy. Multiple groups of Faunus fell to the ground, all of them twitching except for the ones that had taken direct hits. Those men and women weren’t even twitching; they were simply lying motionless on the ground and expelling bubbling burnt acid from their mouths. 

The Faunus workers stopped as they saw this, fear overcoming the rage they had previously felt. The crowd backed away from the guards, eyeing the sizzling weapons that they held in their hands. Here and there exclamations of grief and cries of anger rose up from the crowd, but none of them dared go into the range of the deadly weapons that were pointed in their direction.

“Yeah!” shouted a guard, a triumphant expression on his face “you see that you wild—“

At that moment a gunshot resounded throughout the courtyard. The guard who had just been gloating crashed to the ground, a hole is his helmet and a puddle of blood forming on the ground where his head lay. 

Everyone turned their heads in the direction of the gunshot. 

Standing there, at the very top of the wall surrounding the courtyard, were a group of Faunus wearing what appeared to be White Fang uniforms. For some reason though, the uniforms they were wearing didn’t contain the usual white circle with a white beasts head inside, but instead a black circle with an angrier looking version of the beasts head inside with three black claw marks passing through it. Each of them was also wearing a black mask which held a resemblance to the type of Faunus that they were.

Almost all of the White Fang members there were holding rifles that were aimed at one of the security guards. One of the armed members was holding a smoking rifle that was aimed at the fallen corpse of the guard he had just shot. 

Standing in the center of the group, their arms folded and their expressions covered by the masks they wore, were Jirall and Daylen.

“Just in time” said Jirall. “Time for this injustice to end.”

 

Sorry for the late release, but when you take really hard college classes and try to keep good grades, it tends to swallow a massive amount of your time. 

Anyway, I hope you’ve all been enjoying the story so far. The action in this ark is beginning to spike now.

It seems I’ll have less time to write, but fear not. I will continue to diligently tell Lan’s tale, and I hope you all will share this story with all your friends. (Especially if it’s someone working at Rooster Teeth.)

Also, if any of you guys have ideas for characters I’d like them. It’s just that I’m planning for the next arc, and I’ll need plenty of good character ideas. If any of you are interested, send me a personal message.

Finally, as always, please tell me how I’m doing as a writer. I’m always hoping to improve.


	25. Chapter 25

Ch 25  
Lan stood there stunned as Jirall walked forward to address the crowd gathered below him.

“Brothers! Sisters! Are your eyes now open?!” he shouted “Do you see that they will never compromise and give you what you all rightfully deserve! They only see you as animals, no, tools! That they can exploit for their own gain, and throw away once whenever they feel like it.” He opened his arms wide “Are you not sick of this my brothers and sisters? Are you not tired of being treated like livestock?”

Murmurs of agreement were flowing throughout the crowd below

“If so!” continued Jirall “Then the time has come to fight for what you rightfully deserve! Against these humans who crush our hopes and laugh at our dreams!”

The Faunus down below slowly grew more and more riled up as Jirall continued his speech. With a jolt, Lan came out of his shock and suddenly realized what was happening.

“Things will never get better if you continue to allow these tyrants to cow you into submission! Now is the time to fight back!” shouted Jirall.

“No!” shouted Lan, rushing into the crowd “Don’t, if you do that you’ll only make things worse! People will just get more and more suspicious of Faunus.”

“That’s right” shouted Byakko who came to stand next to Lan “You start some kind of violent uprising and you’ll only prove what all those racists say about you all!”

“You need to show them that you won’t stand for the bad treatment anymore, but at the same time show that you aren’t threatening them!” shouted Lan, who restated a piece of policy that he had read from a book on political philosophy, “Things will get better, I know things are bad now but that doesn’t mean you can blow stuff up just because—“

“ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!” shouted Siemans, who had just now snapped out of his shock and into a seething rage. “YOU WHITE FANG GET OFF MY WALLS!” he shouted, pointing at the White Fang, “AND YOU PACKANIMALS GET OUT OF HERE AND BACK TO YOUR QUARTERS BEFORE I KICK YOU OUT OF MY TOWN TO BE SLAUGHTERED!” he ended this phrase with a spray of spittle.

The Faunus workers stood there shocked, staring at their employer with wide-eyes.

Byakko covered his eyes and groaned. 

“Idiot” he said.

“You see!” shouted Jirall, extending his hand in Siemans’s direction “This is how they see you; this is what they’ll do to you just because you don’t have the means to fight back! Well no longer!”

Jirall snapped his fingers. At evenly spaced intervals throughout the crowd of workers, a Faunus put on a black mask similar to the ones that White Fang on the wall were wearing and pulled crates out of the bags that they had on their back. They all placed the crates on the ground and ripped the lids off, revealing a variety of arms inside.

“These are the means that I can provide with.” Shouted Jirall, “I give you all a choice now. Will you continue to allow the humans to oppress you or will you take up arms alongside us and fight for your liberty!”

“Jirall!” shouted Lan “Are you really turning your back on the creed of the White Fang?”

Jirall laughed and then fixed Lan with a hard stare. 

“I have faithfully followed that creed for years, dutifully following the words of our ‘wise leader’. But I haven’t seen any of the change that he promised would happen. Businesses still slam their doors in my people’s faces, Faunus are still forced to work for meager sums and in squalid conditions, thousands and thousands of us still die in obscurity without the masses even giving them the time of day!” Jirall went on and on. It seemed as though he had been keeping these emotions in for years and was reveling in finally setting them free. “So to answer your question Lan, yes, I am renouncing that the White Fang and their fruitless pacifist policies. I will be leading a new faction, one that will do what the White Fang has failed.”

He signaled to two of the men standing next to him. The two men pulled two large flags out of the ground and impaled them into the wall. On the flags were the black, altered, White Fang symbols that decorated Jirall’s clothes.

“Today is the birth of a new militant faction that will fight against the tyranny that has oppressed our people for generations.” Said Jirall “Today is the birth of the Black Claw.”

“I DON”T CARE WHO YOU ARE!” shouted Siemans, “GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE BEFORE I CALL IN THE MILITARY AND—“

A gun was fired and a bullet hole appeared in the wall behind Siemans, only inches from the man’s skull. Squealing like a frightened schoolgirl, Siemans dropped to a crouch and covered his head. Lan turned his direction in the sound of gunfire and saw one of the mine workers holding a smoking firearm. 

“I am sick of your crap Siemans!” shouted the man, “I’m taking my fate into my own hands now!”

“How dare you!” shouted Siemans, standing up and brushing himself off. “Guards! Lock your shields and take these animals down!”

With a roar, the guardsman rushed forward, swinging their deadly batons at all within their reach. With the fear of being electrocuted and killed, many of the Faunus workers made their decisions. Many groups converged on the various weapon crates that had been set down and grabbed the weapons inside. 

“Lan!” shouted Byakko, grabbing the boy’s shoulder and bringing him back to earth “We gotta minimize casualties!”

No sooner did he say this, than the forces of workers and guards crashed into each other. Shots were fired, explosives went off, and screams of agony filled the air. Lan and Byakko darted all across the field, harmlessly incapacitating as many combatants as they could, but there were simply too many. Many fell to the ground screaming in pain, and many more fell to never rise again. 

The guards were vastly outnumbered by the Faunus, however their shields repelled most of the firearms aimed at them and their armor was able to protect them long enough for them to run out of the way of the explosives. Things looked like they would end in the guards’ favor, until the sound of jet engines filled the air. Three large White Fang, no, Black Claw ships descended on the fray from far above and began firing heavy artillery rounds at the guards. The calibers of those firearms were able to pierce through the guardsmen’s shields, ripping through their bodies as if they were tissue paper. Recognizing that they were the ones at a disadvantage now, the guards quickly retreated back inside the office building, which was fortified in case of mine revolts. As the guards fled back inside, the ships stopped firing after seeing their bullets bounding fruitlessly against the fortified walls of the office building. A cry of victory came up from the Faunus but few moments later, Siemans’s voice came on the intercom. 

“Think you’re pretty tough don’t ya, well you’ve all forgotten something very important.”

A few seconds later a large yellow sphere crashed into the engine of one of the ships, causing it to spin out of control and crash into the side of the mountain, luckily those that had been inside had managed to eject themselves in time and were slowly floating down on parachutes. Lan looked up and saw some of the turrets on the cliffs surrounding the town turn towards the remaining two airships.

“Hah!” shouted Siemans over the intercom “Did you see that coming dirt bags?!”

“Yes” said Jirall, removing a small detonator from his coat and triggering it “Yes I did.”

All around the city, explosions erupted halfway up the cliffs all around the town at regular intervals. The turrets surrounding the town grew dark, and shut down. 

“We planted explosives on the power lines” said Jirall “Did you see that coming you slimy mama’s boy.”

Lan could picture the shocked expression that was covering Siemans’s face at that very moment. But another more important thought filled his mind at that time. 

“Jirall!” shouted Lan “What were you thinking!?Those turrets protected the town from the surrounding Grimm!”

“Our kids!” shouted one of the Faunus workers, dropping her weapon and falling to her knees “There in danger!”

“What the heck!” shouted another worker, turning his gaze at Jirall, “You said you were going to help us, but you’ve doomed us all?”

“Fear not” said Jirall, raising his hands “That has already been taken into consideration.”

Two of the men next to him pressed a button and a holo-screen popped out of a device that had been set up in the ground. It showed a large group of Faunus children huddled together in what appeared to be a cavern in the mines.

“Your children are safe” said Jirall “Right after you all entered mines early this morning, my operatives moved the children into the mines through secret tunnels in the walls of the town, tunnels that have already been sealed to prevent any Grimm from entering. It will be easily defensible thanks to its natural barriers and will serve as our base of operations as we launch the final phase of our plan.” Jirall then pointed to the two airships still hovering above him. “After our goal has been completed all Faunus who have assisted us will be made honorary members of the Black Claw and be escorted out of the vicinity on the ships to a safe area.”

The Faunus down below begin murmuring amongst themselves. To them it seemed as if they had little choice but to conform to the man’s will if they wished to survive.

“But what about the rest of the town!” shouted Lan “They’ll be overrun by Grimm!”

At this, Jirall let out a piercing laugh, Lan noticed Daylen wince as his brother did this.

“Those slavers have lived for years off the blood, sweat, and tears of hundreds of good Faunus” said Jirall “This will be their just desserts…However” Jirall turned to look at Byakko “They may be able to survive if a certain stubborn old man puts his full effort into protecting them.” 

Jirall knew full well what Byakko was capable of; as a result he didn’t want the old man interfering with whatever he was planning. Destroying the turret power lines killed two birds with one stone, allowing him to force the town’s Faunus to join him as well as remove one of his greatest obstacles, cunning.

“True” said Byakko, flexing his powerful leg muscles and scratching his chin “But not before I take you down!”

Byakko erupted forward, throwing himself at the group of Black Claw members like a cannonball and collided with Jirall and Daylen…or at least he should have. The old man passed right through the two of them and crashed into the men behind them. As he passed through, the visages of the two leaders shook and crackled. Lan then realized from their shimmering forms that the two of them were holograms; their bodies must have been somewhere else.

“Too bad” said Jirall as Byakko subdued all the solid Black Claw around him “But we’re not stupid enough to show ourselves in front of you.” He then turned to look at Lan “Well, it’s been fun, but we really must be getting to work now.”

“Grandpa” shouted Lan “go take care of any Grimm coming near the city, I’ll handle things here!”

“Are you sure” said Jirall “I believe you both have somewhere you need to be, you don’t want your two little friends back at your home to become lonely now do you?”

“What!?” shouted Lan, alarmed, but the holograms had already flickered away.

Byakko swore loudly and turned to Lan. 

“Come on, we got to take care of the littlies before anything else!”

With that he leapt downwards towards Lan, grabbed the boy, and threw him over the wall. Lan landed on the other side with a soft thump and moment later Byakko landed next to him with a loud crash. Nodding to each other, to two of them darted back towards their house, watching the panic that was slowly spreading throughout the town.  
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Within a minute Lan and Byakko arrived back home. 

With a sinking sensation in the depths of his stomach Lan saw that the front door was busted down. The two of them arrived at the porch and then dashed into the entrance…to find three Black Claw operatives passed out on the ground with Ignis and George sitting on their backs.

The two of them barked and ooed as the Lan and Byakko came through the door.

“How did you--?” started Lan,

The two little guys reached down and each picked up an object. George picked up what appeared to be one of his used diapers, a substance that Lan just noticed was covering each of the Black Claw operatives’ faces. Ignis was holding a picture of Byakko giving a big thumbs up, scrolled across the picture in black ink was the phrase “go for the groin”. Apparently George had blinded the assailants with the diapers while Ignis went straight for the groin, as evidenced by holes in the trousers of the incapacitated black fang which revealed their underwear.

“I have taught you well” said Byakko, his arms folded and a smug smile on his face.

Lan let out a sigh of relief and collapsed onto his rear. Finally he could relax a little—.

At that moment the cry of a giant nevermore rang out across the town. 

“No time to rest boy” said Byakko “This town’s always attracted Grimm thanks to the high levels of negative feelings that are always permeating this place, and now that the turrets are down they can start getting close to the town.”

Byakko nodded and began heading upstairs. 

“Tie these guys up for now” he said “after that we need to get ready.”

Lan nodded and after quickly restraining the Black Claw members with pieces of rope, headed upstairs where he changed out of his guardsman uniform and into his combat clothes which consisted of a blue and black t-shirt under a dark blue trench coat, a pair of long black pants, a pair of blue and white fingerless gloves, and a pair of black sunglasses that could protect against flash bangs. His clothes also contained numerous pockets and compartments where he placed a variety of weaponry and tools. Finally, he strapped his larger weapons, which consisted of a bow; a staff; and a wooden sword, and his trademark backpack to his back. As he came back downstairs, he found his grandpa sitting on a large black and white duffle-bag. 

“As you already know” started Byakko, “I’ll be heading up to the walls to keep the Grimm from getting into town; in the meantime you see what you can do to remedy this situation down here. Oh and do make sure to not hurt the turned Faunus workers too badly, some of my drinking buddies haven’t followed up on the bet they made during the party.”

Lan saluted and nodded, after surviving Byakko’s training he was more than prepared.

“One thing first” said Lan, who dashed to the kitchen.

He came back with two packages wrapped in leaves, one was the size of a loaf of bread and the other was the size of a thick log.

“Can’t fight on an empty stomach.” Said Lan, handing the log sized package to Byakko.

“Thanks boy,” said Byakko with a chuckle, “I’ve got a little something for us as well.”

Byakko reached inside the bag and pulled out a small black box. Lan noticed writing on the top and came closer for a better look. 

‘Lucky Underwear’ it said.

Lan and Byakko gave each other a serious look and then nodded. The two opened the box and grabbed their respective undergarments. Lan reached into his pants, ripped off what he was currently wearing, and somehow managed to put on the new pair of underwear, which was blue and covered with black forms of various animals. Byakko also put on his new fundoshi, which was white with a cartoon white tiger’s face on the back. Lan noticed that Byakko didn’t rip out his old underwear before putting on the new one. Lan opened his mouth and was about to inquire about it when Byakko announced:

“I wasn’t wearing any underwear today.”

His question answered, Lan shut his mouth.

“You see I farted, and a hole opened up and—“

“Stop right there” said Lan. He then turned to address Ignis and George.

“You ready little soldiers?” asked Lan.

The two barked and screeched in acknowledgement, and then ran over to the empty underwear box, grabbed it, and dropped it at Lan’ feet.

“Ah so you want some to eh?” said Lan, “Then you can have my old one!”

Lan tore his old pare of underpants in two and tied the first piece around Ignis’s neck, and the second around George’s head.

“Ready?” said Lan.

The two of them saluted in response.

“All right then,” said Byakko, grabbing his duffle bag and heading towards the door.

“Hey grandpa” said Lan “I’ve been wondering about it for a bit, but what’s in that duffle bag.”

Standing on the front porch, Byakko turned and gave Lan a toothy smile.

“My sports equipment.” He said, and then vanished, carried away by his inhuman speed.

Now sure that the town would be 100% protected, Lan dashed out the door and headed towards the mines again, Ignis and George hot on his heels.   
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Arriving back at the mining complex, Lan found the area deserted and the land torn apart like a warzone. He sent Ignis and George to look for any survivors amongst the many supine forms littering the ground.

Having no idea of what occurred after he and Byakko left, Lan believed that his best option would be to acquire some intelligence from those nearby. Thinking that the guardsmen and office workers would be more cooperative than the desperate Faunus workers, Lan ran towards the office building, arriving just as a loud “Fort!” from his grandfather’s throat echoed across the town followed a moment later by the sound of the loud clank of a golf club hitting a golf ball and the death cry of what sounded like a giant nevermore. 

Lan tried to open the doors, but found them firmly locked. Lan pulled back his fist and threw a full-powered punch at the door. Surprisingly the door held against the powerful blow, only cracking slightly. Lan whipped his arm back and nursed his knuckles; luckily he didn’t receive any physical damage due to his aura. The door seemed to be made from an extremely durable glass.

As he began to think about a way to get inside he noticed a small movement inside behind the receptionist desk. Lan knocked on the glass, hoping to get the attention of whoever it was. Lan saw a guardsmen’s visor slowly peer over the desk and when the man saw that it was Lan and not an angry Faunus, he crawled out from behind the desk and began to limp towards the door. Lan noticed a bullet wound in his right thigh that had just been treated.

The man came to the glass peered behind Lan to make sure there were no enemies, then pressed a button on the side of the door, causing them to slide open. 

“Quick, quick.” He said, motioning with his hand “get in before—“

Before he realized it, he was staring at empty space and Lan was standing at his side. 

Startled, the man stared at Lan for a few moments before snapping out of his daze and quickly shutting the door. 

“Oh, thank god you arrived Lan.” Said the guard “Things are going downhill faster than a jackrabbit with its ass lit on fire. Things were exploding, people were dying and and--”

“Easy man, easy” interrupted Lan, who grabbed the man and began shaking him violently “Just tell me the situation”

“O-kay-just-stop-shaking-me” said the man.

Lan let go of the man who took a moment to recompose himself before beginning to explain.

The guardsman, who revealed his name to be Drew, explained that after Lan and Byakko had left, the firefight had continued only this time the guards had the advantage thanks to their position within the fortified office building and the advanced weaponry that Siemans had somehow managed to provide. After realizing that they were in a disadvantageous position, the alliance of Faunus workers and Black Fang had then split into two groups, each led by Daylen or Jirall. The group led by Daylen had taken the lifts down into the mines and put up their defensive front there, while the group led by Jirall had headed up into the reactor in the cliff that held the facilities where dust was purified. The airships had headed back to the airfields to refuel.

Soon after, Siemans had dispatched the now rearmed guardsmen towards each of the two locations in order to subdue the Faunus there; Drew had been left behind due to the bullet room that he had sustained. Also, Siemans had just left the building with a regime of guards towards a warehouse at the edge of town that contained what he called his ‘trump card’. 

After hearing this, Lan thought for a few moments and decided that his best bet would be to try to convince Daylen, who was the more agreeable of the two brothers, to stop this madness. Lan thanked the guard and then turned to exit the building.

“Wait!” shouted the guardsmen “Take these, you left them in your locker this morning.”

Lan turned and found the guard holding his shock batons. Lan snatched them up and quickly pocketed them. 

“Thank you” said Lan. “Oh that reminds me, you’d better tell your superiors to fix the power lines connected to the turrets.”

“But the Grimm!” said the guard “right now they should be swarming over the—“

“Grandpa’s taking care of it” said Lan “Any technicians you send there should be just fine.”

The guard nodded and Lan turned around, pressed the button opening the door, and stepped outside. He found Ignis and George waiting with two groaning piles of guardsmen and Faunus. Lan didn’t have time to apply medical treatment, so he turned to the guard behind him.

“No way!” shouted the guard “I’ll help my fellow guardsmen, sure, but those Faunus? No way in he—“

Lan leapt upwards, grabbed the man around the scruff of his neck and dragged him down to eyelevel. 

“Oh you will” said Lan “because if you don’t I will make sure to tell grandpa…have you ever seen him angry?”

Lan finished the sentence with an unnerving smile. The guard swallowed and then answered with a weak:

“No.”

“It would be in your best interest to keep it that way.” Said Lan “and don’t even think of giving any preferential treatment or telling any unsympathetic people about them, because trust me he’ll know.”

The guardsmen swallowed and then slowly nodded. Lan patted the man on the back with a smile, and then pulled a bag of medical supplies out of his backpack and handed it to the guard.

“And also” said Lan “here’s a little incentive to make sure you do the job equally well for all of them.”

Lan handed the man a gold coin that he had taken from his grandpa’s treasure room, Byakko never used that money anyway and had told Lan that he could take as much as he wanted. The guardsman’s eyes widened and his fear was replaced with a countenance of pleasant surprise.

“Yes sir” said the guard, pocketing the coin. He then began to drag the groaning forms of guardsmen and Faunus into the building. 

“Just like grandpa said” thought Lan, turning towards the lift leading down to the mines. “Threat of physical pain + incentive = very loyal person” 

He ran over and stopped in front of the shaft, pressing the call button for the elevator. In the moment that he was waiting, Ignis and George caught up to him. George leapt upwards and perched himself on top of Lan’s backpack and Ignis stopped at Lan’s heel. At that moment the elevator bell rang and the doors began to open. All of a sudden Lan felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end and a cold chill down his back, a warning from his heightened instincts that had been beaten into him from the day he first opened his eyes. He grabbed Ignis and leapt sideways, just in time to avoid the barrage of machine gun fire that poured out of the door. A moment later, three Black Claw troops ran out of the elevator and pointed their weapons in three directions spreading out of the center.

Lan saw that they hadn’t noticed him yet and threw a small paper package into the group before grabbing Ignis and diving behind a nearby pile of refuse. 

“Huh?” he heard one of the troops say, “What the—“

With a sound that very much resembled a fart, the package exploded and enveloped the three in a red and green mist. 

“Agh!” screamed all three of the guards.

“My nose!” shouted one,

“My eyes!” shouted another

“My lungs!” shouted the last.

In their moment of disarray Lan took a deep breath, switched on his shock batons, and dove into the gas where the struck each combatant in an unprotected area. The mist faded away a few seconds later, and Lan let out a loud exhalation. The three troops were unconscious at his feet and were currently being sniffed by Ignis. 

“I’d say the stink bomb pepper spray mix gets 5 stars” said Lan.

He then pulled a length of rope, gagged and tied the troops together, and threw them into a nearby dumpster.

As he walked back to the elevator, he found that Ignis and George were already waiting for him. 

“You guys need to help from now on” said Lan.

The two of them gave an exclamation of understanding as Lan pressed the down button and the elevator began to descend down into the caverns down below.   
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With a ding the door opened and Lan stepped out into the mining tunnels. What greeted him were the bodies of guardsmen who had tried to retreat and were gunned down by the three machine gun men who had been waiting in the elevators and Faunus workers who had been dragged into the fray. 

Lan walked over to the nearest corpse and offered it a silent prayer. Such sights had become normal to him now that he had walked many different paths with his grandfather. They had often come upon small villages or groups of nomads that had been wiped out by Grimm. But this scene filled him with even more sorrow than those times. These people had been killed by their fellow man, by those who could have worked together with them for their mutual benefit but had instead turned towards the road of death and despair. 

“Let’s check for survivors” said Lan to George and Ignis.

They went around and found a few people that were still breathing, after which Lan did his best to treat them with basic first aid and acupuncture. Those he treated were dragged off into small dead end side tunnels where they were set into rough handmade mats and blankets slapped together from clothes taken from the corpses. After treating the last man, Lan turned and was about to head deeper into the tunnels when he heard a groan from behind him. He turned and saw the guardsman he had just treated slowly sit up.

“Easy man” said Lan running over to check on him. “Here, have some water.”

Lan pulled a plastic water bottle from his bag and offered it to the man who downed it gratefully. 

“Thank you” said the man, touching the bandages that covered the upper right side of his face.

“What’s the situation?” asked Lan.

The guardsmen explained that there had been two groups of guards. One led by their best combatant Marcus, and the other led by the guard captain Aurelius. Marcus had gone up to confront Jirall and Aurelius had gone down to confront Daylen. Upon entering and searching the caverns, the guards had been struck time and time again by the guerrilla tactics of Black Claw soldiers and Faunus workers that had been hiding in the tunnels. After a while he had gotten separated from the main force and had attempted to retreat back to the surface. 

Lan nodded and handed the man a rifle he had found on the ground for self-defense. 

“Don’t hurt anyone that’s recovering in any of the side tunnels” said Lan, “Only use it for self-defense.”

The guard nodded. Lan also gave the man a variety of medical supplies, food, and water and told him that if anyone else woke up, be they man or Faunus; the guard had to make these supplies known and help them. 

“Come on guys.” Said Lan to George and Ignis “We need to gather some more intelligence.”

The three of the then headed deeper into the tunnels.  
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“Where are they!?” shouted the guard.

The Faunus woman shrieked as the man pulled her large raccoon ears even harder. 

“Talk!” he shouted.

“I don’t know!” cried the woman, tears pouring down her face “We didn’t follow them! Those who didn’t want to fight ran away as soon as we got into the mines!”

“Don’t give me that crap” shouted the guard “We know every one of you animals are cooperating with those beasts! Now talk!”

“Hey” said the man’s partner, who was leaning on a nearby wall guarding a group of five cowering Faunus, two of whom were merely children “You mind hurryin’ up?”

“I’m workin on it!” shouted the first guard.

“Well alright” said the second guard, straightening up “I’m gonna go take a piss, call me if there’s any trouble.”

The man rounded the corner of a nearby mining shaft, walked down a little ways, and proceeded to do his business.

“Ahhhh” he sighed, as another scream from the woman echoed down from the hallway “sweet relie—“

He then noticed something to the left of the yellow puddle that was now forming on the ground. A small red canine was sitting on the ground and staring up at him with its tongue lolling out of its mouth. 

“What the—“

A moment later something dropped down from the ceiling and covered his mouth with its hands. The guards reached upwards to try and remove it, but in that instant he was hit from behind with two stun batons. The man grunted, and then fell to the ground unconscious. 

“Good job boys” said Lan, sticking his stun batons into his pockets “Now let’s go save that—Ignis, bad dog!”

Ignis had been creeping towards the yellow puddle on the floor and had slowly been extending his tongue towards it. 

“I’ll give you meat later” said Lan “so don’t do nasty stuff.”

A few moments later they turned the corner and walked towards the guard who was still interrogating the woman. Thinking that the boy’s footsteps were those of his comrade, the guard didn’t turn around and was knocked unconscious with a whack from the baton.

“Are you all right?” asked Lan, walking over to the woman. 

She nodded slowly and then got back to her feet.

“Barbarians” she said, spitting on the unconscious form of the guard. “Every last one of them.”

“They’re just scared” said Lan “most of these guys haven’t ever been in a real combat situation before…just like all of you.”

“We’re not hurting anybody though,” said the woman “Yes we’re following those White-- uh, Black Claw, but we don’t have a choice! The town’s going to be infested by Grimm and—“

“Grandpa’s defending the town and the technicians will have the turrets up and ready soon, you’ll all be fine” said Lan. He then paused for a moment and looked the woman straight in the eyes. “Do you think what the Black Claw is doing is going to make a positive difference?”

“Honestly…no” said the woman “all it’s going to do is give those anti-Faunus politicians another reason to take away our rights.”

Lan nodded and the asked her if she knew where Daylen was. She didn’t have much information, so after telling Lan what she could, she headed over to one of the safe areas that Lan had mapped out along with the Faunus that had been with her and the two guardsmen (now tied up). Lan then explored the mining area more, saving Faunus workers from violent guardsmen and saving captured guardsmen from extremist Faunus, making sure to gather information all the while. He also happened on a few canisters of purified Dust, which he subsequently pocketed. After a little while he deduced from the information that he had gathered that Daylen and his troops were in a large cavern near the center of the mine. 

After running in that direction for a few minutes, Lan found a completely unexpected sight. As he rounded a corner leading to the large cavern, he discovered the majority of the troops along with guard captain Aurelius gathered in front of the main entrance leading into the tunnel. They were noticeably better armed than the guards Lan had met earlier and had on very serious expressions.

“Aurelius!” shouted Lan “What are you—“

“Shhhhhhh!” shushed Aurelius “Quiet do you want to—“

He then noticed that the one who had spoken up was Lan.

“Lan” he gasped in a quiet voice, his face suddenly filled with relief “Thank goodness you’ve arrived.”

“What’s the situation?” asked Lan in a now quiet voice. Ignis and George plopped down right next to him and also fixed Aurelius with an intense stare.

“Daylen and his troops are in the cavern ahead, along with a large portion of the workers” said Aurelius “They’ve bunkered down behind some hastily constructed defenses and have they’re weapons pointed at all the openings to the cavern.” He paused for a moment to take another peak into the cabin. 

“Do you know what they’re planning to do?” asked Lan

“I’d have to be an idiot not to” said Aurelius, turning back to face Lan. “after all, its smack dab in the middle of the room behind their defenses.”

“It?” said Lan questioningly.

“They’ve got a bomb boy” said Aurelius, “and from its size and current position, it’ll set off all the dust veins in the mine and collapse the caverns under the city.”

 

Anyway, I remember someone asking me about what romances I wanted, so I guess I’ll tell you now. In all honesty I would love LanXRuby, because Ruby’s innocent and quirky demeanor would strike a chord with Lan, who would have already lost his innocence by the time he met her (11 years later from present time in the story.) But if this story is never accepted as canon, then Lan will never meet Ruby.

I also wanted to ship Yang with Lan’s apprentice , who will appear much much later in the story, who despite being chronologically older than Lan, looks up to him as a sensei. 

Once again thank you for reading my stories, and if you have any suggestions please let me know.

Well then: Next chapter, Lan understanding and use of Dust gets a boost.


	26. Chapter 26

Ch 26

Lan peered out from behind the corner into the cavern. Sure enough; Daylen, his entourage, and the compliant Faunus workers were clustered around the center of the rock-filled cavern, guarding an argent cylindrical structure that Lan took to be the bomb. The troops were arranged in a circular formation around the elevated piece of ground where Daylen, a few Black Claw members, and the bomb were standing. The outermost and innermost rings of the formation consisted of Black Claw combatants who had planted themselves in position with thick slabs of scrap metal that acted as shields, and were pointing their weapons towards all the openings. Between the two groups were Faunus workers, all of whom had nervous expressions on their faces and were clutching a variety of basic weaponry. 

“At least he’s not treating them like fodder.” Thought Lan.

After getting a hold of the formations, Lan focused his attention on the bomb. Currently one of its panels was open and someone who looked like an engineer was working on it, fitting together wires and placing dust crystals here and there.

“So, what do you think?”

Lan looked backwards at Aurelius.

“I’d suggest parlay.” Said Lan,

“Wha—Parlay?” said Aurelius, his expression doubtful. “With those wild—“

With a deft movement Lan covered the man’s mouth with his hand.

“Finish that sentence and I’ll rip out all your nose hairs.” Said Lan “also it’s Daylen inside, he’s a lot more understanding than Jirall. I might be able to get a few words in…Okay I know what to do.”

Lan slipped back behind the wall, sat his bag down and began to rummage through it. After a few minutes he frowned. He looked up at the guardsman around him as he pulled out a metal pole. 

“Does anyone have any white cloth with them? All I have is black.”

The guardsmen all shook their heads, and few “No”s popped up here and there. Their clothes were all white, but were made out of some kind of metal armor.

“Hmmm, what would grandpa do?” thought Lan, after thinking for a moment he snapped his fingers and turned to Aurelius “Quick! What color is your underwear?”

“Oh, uh it’s white but—“started Aurelius, suddenly he realized why Lan asked the question and started to open his mouth in protest. But too late, Lan was already behind him. 

“Sorry.” Said Lan  
.  
.  
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Daylen looked out at the people gathered before him, spread out in front of him like a small pond. He let out a quiet sigh and rubbed his eyes.

“Is something wrong Daylen?”

He turned and looked into Megan’s concerned face. 

“It’s nothing, just…a little tired.”

Megan sighed and leaned forward to whisper into his ear. 

“Are you sure you want to go through with Jirall’s plan?”

Daylen was silent for a moment, and then slowly pushed her away. 

“We don’t really have a choice.” Said Daylen “Besides, we’ve gotten this far in life thanks to following Jirall.” “But I really hoped that we wouldn’t go through with this in the end” Jirall thought the last portion, letting that opinion echo in the confines of his heart instead of inside the cavern. 

Daylen let out another sigh and turned to the technician working on the bomb. 

“Is it almost ready?”

“Just another couple minutes” said the technician, “still got too calibrate the—“

At that moment a loud high-pitch shriek similar to that of a wild boar’s filled the cavern. Everyone in the cavern snapped to attention and trained their weapons on the entrance where the sound came from. A few moments later a white flag appeared in the opening. 

“We request a parlay” said whoever was holding the flag “We wish for no harm to come to either side.”

Many of the men and woman in the ranks looked at each other in confusion and turned towards Daylen. 

“Um, okay?” said Daylen “but what was that sound just now?”

“Guard captain Aurelius screaming like a little girl” responded Lan “a little sissy baby piggy girl.”

“You almost crushed my lower regions!” shouted Aurelius in an angry voice. “I swear I felt my skin rip!”

It was then that Daylen and the rest of the Faunus realized what the flag Lan was holding was made out of. 

“Well, are you going to come out now?” said Daylen, still slightly put off by the situation. 

“Oh, yeah sure.” Said Lan,

A few minutes later Lan, Aurelius (who had a pained expression on his face and was nursing his lower regions), and the rest of the guard emerged from the tunnel. The guards then set their shields, forming a defensive wall behind Lan who was walking forwards to the center of the room. 

“How’s it going Daylen?” said Lan with a smile.

“Uh, fine” said Daylen, slowly recovering his composure “and how are you?”

“Oh, fine except for the monkey and puppy up my butt” said Lan, destroying Daylen’s composure once again.

“What!?” said Daylen, his composure once again slipping.

“Yeah they won’t let go” said Lan.

He then turned around and pointed to his rear where George grabbing on with all four limbs and Ignis was latched on with his fangs. 

Lan then turned back around to face Daylen who, along with all the other Faunus in the room, was looking at Lan with a disturbed expression.

“Well, all jokes aside” Said Lan, his voice turning serious “Daylen, why a bomb?”

Quickly recovering his wits, Daylen fixed Lan with a cold stare.

“We didn’t really have choice anymore” said Daylen “with so many years of unanswered enthusiasm, rallies, and effort…we had to take matters into our own hands.” 

“By staining them with blood?” said Lan “Aren’t you trying to improve other people’s lives.”

“Yes” said Daylen “we are.”

“You call this terrorism improvement?!” shouted Aurelius from behind the guardsmen’s shield wall “You’re only going to make it worse for yourselves! Especially you workers. ” Aurelius pointed his finger in an ark at all of the Faunus workers “How can you be so ungrateful.”

“Ungrateful!?” shouted someone in the crowd. A moment later that person burst to the front of the line. It was Milton, the leader of the worker union. “We’ve been worked to the bone for barely anything! We’ve had to scrounge together our savings to pay for food, and dig through the trash just to survive!”

“That’s nonsense!” shouted Aurelius “According to the reports in our system database, you should be able to pay for your meals at the cheaper markets and still have enough funds to store away for emergencies. You’re all having a hard time because you’ve been too wasteful!”

“Wasteful!?” shouted many in the crowd. Many cries of outrage erupted from the crowd. Lan turned and faced Aurelius.

“It’s true” said Lan, “Me and grandpa stick with these guys after closing time every day; they get paid really small amounts.”

“Why that’s preposterous” said Aurelius “The system showed that the correct sum had been withdrawn from the company checking account—“

“It didn’t go to them” interrupted Lan “that money went into Siemans’s account.”

“Whah—“started Aurelius.

“Just take a look at these records that grandpa and I stole from the bank last week!” Many perplexed gazes turned in Lan’s direction as the boy pulled some folded documents out of a pocket in his gi and handed it over to Aurelius. The man quickly read the documents, widened his eyes in surprise, read it again, and frowned. 

“If this is true” he said, rubbing his chin “Then that means that the amount they were paid was…oh god.” Aurelius covered his eyes with his hands. “Not even enough for a loaf of bread.”

Lan peeked at Daylen out of the corner of his eyes and noticed a change in the man’s demeanor, an almost sorrowful look had appeared on Daylen’s face for a brief instance before once again being replaced with the emotionless expression he had displayed earlier.

“Did you not report the discrepancy?” asked Aurelius, turning to the group of Faunus.

“We did” said a tired looking man with a fuzzy gray beard “but every time we were laughed at or ignored. Them racist clerks never took our complaints seriously.”

Aurelius was quiet for a moment, muttering “even for a Faunus this is…” under his breath, which elicited an elbow from Lan. He then walked forward and fixed the Faunus with a tired and apologetic stare. 

“I’m sorry” he said after a moment of silence “No, We’re sorry…On behalf of the Dust Hole division of the Schnee Dust company, I apologize.” Another moment of awkward silence passed as the man scratched his head before continuing. “I can understand the pain and frustration you have all gone through…So let me offer you this: If you all end this now, I will not only guarantee that you all will not be blamed, but you shall also be reimbursed for all the pay that you haven’t received…as well as an extra stipend for your pain and suffering… I guarantee it will be paid” Aurelius added this last portion in a hurry as murmurs of derision began forming in the Faunus worker group. “Even if I have to pay out of my own pocket, I’ll make sure you are all given proper compensation.”

A moment of silence passed through the room before someone else spoke again. 

“That’s all well and good” said Milton “but the town’s probably been overrun by Grimm already, we’ve got no choice now but too—“

“Actually” interrupted Lan “that’s not true.”

Lan quickly explained that Byakko was currently keeping Grimm out of the city, and that technicians had already been scrambled to fix the power lines. With that, the last vestiges of fighting spirit that the Faunus workers had left completely disappeared. Most of them hadn’t wanted something like this in the first place. One by one they dropped their weapons. Milton, acting as the representative for the group, walked forward and Aurelius did the same. The two of them stopped in front of each other and held out their hands, clasping them in a firm handshake. It looked like things had ended peacefully on this front, however:

“System armed” said a mechanical female voice that echoed throughout the cavern. 

Everyone in the cavern turned in the direction of the sound, and saw that the bomb had lit up with an eerie red light.

“I’m sorry” said Daylen “but we must continue.” The Black Claw troops had already separated themselves from the Faunus workers and formed a defensive perimeter around the bomb, pointing their weapons at both the guards and Faunus workers.   
.  
.  
.  
The cavern was completely silent save for the hum of the now armed explosive. The Faunus workers and guards once again held a shocked expression on their faces, Lan was no exception. 

“Seriously Daylen?” said Lan “You saw that things could be peacefully resolved and your still going to go through with this?”

“What does one little negotiation make” said Daylen, his face devoid of expression “Even if this is the spark of change for this small town, it means nothing in the face of all the atrocities that we Faunus have endured…..Is this enough to change the world? Is this enough to make up for all we have suffered? Is this enough to convince those pigheaded people in power that they need to change?” Before he had realized it, Daylen had begun spouting off the words of his brother. Daylen had a gentle and kind soul, so when he had seen things resolved so peacefully between the workers and guards he had wanted to just throw away this bloody plan and pursue a path in a peaceful direction. But at that moment his brother’s face had entered his mind and the memories of the pain they had suffered as children flooded through him. He remembered the hundreds of times that they had been beaten, the hollow pain in their stomachs after not having eaten for days, and the cold hand of their mother’s lifeless corpse. 

With those in mind, Daylen attempted to steel his mind and pulled the staff from his back. It was a weapon made from a combination of green, brown, and black metal. The top of the staff had a shaped resembling a shepherd’s crook while the bottom had a sharpened point with a metal ring near the tip.

“Now that the bomb has been set, it will begin to count down at the flip of a switch.” Said Daylen, “It is also constructed in a special way that will cause it to detonate if anyone should attempt to dismantle it.” 

He paused for a moment and looked around the room. “To my Faunus brethren, I suggest you reconsider your options, siding with us will be in your best interest for survival.”

Following Daylen’s statement, silence filled the cavern. 

“Grab the technician!” shouted Aurelius, “He’ll know how to dismantle the bomb!”

The Black Claw member that had just shut the bomb’s control panel removed a pistol from his waist, pointed it at Aurelius, and fired. Luckily one of the nearby guardsmen was able to intercept the projectile with his shield. At that moment hell broke loose.

The Faunus workers quickly formed two opposing groups, one siding with Daylen and the other with Aurelius and the guardsmen, and began to fight each other after picking up the weapons they had just dropped. The guardsmen divided into two groups, one assisted in suppressing the panicked Faunus who had decided to side with the Black Claw, and the other headed towards Daylen. The Black Claw members began to fire on the group of guardsmen who were charging forward, however the guardsmen’s’ shields blocked all of the gunfire. Attempting to minimize casualties as best they could, Lan and his little friends darted around the battlefield disarming those who were using lethal weaponry and preventing those who had fallen from being trampled. The guardsmen quickly neared the encircling formation of Black Claw troops, but were beaten back as a purplish red whip coursing with energy smashed into their shields and stopped them in their tracks. Megan held the weapon in her hands, and began to lash at the enemy forces over and over. The force of her blows prevented them from taking a single step forward, the great force likely a result of the whip’s special qualities and/or her semblance. 

It seemed as if things had entered a stalemate. 

However Daylen had yet to do anything. He merely stood there, his eyes closed and his staff grasped tightly in his hands. He was inhaling and exhaling slowly, calming his mind and silencing his soul. Then, when he finally opened his eyes, the storm began. 

Reaching into a pouch at his waist, Daylen pulled out three objects and threw them at the ground between the guardsmen and the Black Claw. As he was propping an unconscious man up against the wall, Lan caught a glimpse of them and recognized them as tree seeds. At the same time, Daylen slammed the sharp end of his staff into the ground, a green layer of Aura covering his body. The light from Daylen’s body traveled from his hand to the staff, where it then entered the ground. Three green tendrils of energy shot out from where the staff was embedded in the earth at frightening speed and reached the seeds that were embedded in the ground. 

Giant wooden vines erupted from the seeds a moment later, slamming into the line of shields and blasted the guardsmen backwards. But it didn’t stop there. The vines continued to rush forward, ripping up the ground and ensnaring any that came too close. Guardsmen and Faunus alike were wrapped in the raging plant matter, the guardsmen were able to more successfully evade however thanks to their training. Crashing into the walls, the vines finally stopped. Like a prison, the vines had numerous Faunus and guardsmen trapped inside. The guardsmen inside the vines that were still able to move pulled out blades from their tool belts and began cutting themselves out, while those outside of the vines continued their charge. 

Ironically most of the people trapped and entangled in the vines were Faunus workers, the remaining Faunus workers outside the vines simply stood where they were, their faces masked with confusion and fear. 

This actually worked out quite well for Lan, since the boy no longer had to prevent them from killing each other. Whistling at George and Ignis to take cover, Lan dashed towards the battlefront. However, the minute he reached the frontlines another round of vines exploded in front of him. He leapt backwards and ironically used the advancing vines as springboards to avoid being entrapped by them. 

“Not as fast as grandpa’s hand” thought Lan, as he ducked and jumped through the encroaching vines “But there’s gotta be something I can do about them.” He considered reasoning with Daylen again, but another one of Byakko’s sayings came to his mind: “People are most open to persuasion after a good old fashioned beat down!”

“Okay,” thought Lan as he finally leapt out of the path of the vines and landed on the ground a few feet away “how can I beat him down?”

Lan stood still and thought for a moment, ignoring the guardsmen who were being flung into the air and crashing down near him. After going through all the tools that he currently had in his mind, Lan came up with a solution. 

“My first time trying this” said Lan, pulling out a canister of Dust, “but here goes nothing.” 

Lan deposited some of the blue powder into his palm.

“Okay, just gotta add aura and—“Lan ‘s palm began to glow with a blue light, and the blue dust in his hand immediately exploded, coating his hand in a layer of ice. 

“Ack—cold cold”, said Lan, bending down just in time to avoid a stray bullet.

He ran behind one of the tree roots to avoid gunfire, reached into one of his pockets with his good hand, pulled out an instant hot pack, gave it a punch to start the chemical reactions, and placed it on his hand to melt the ice.

“Ahhhh” said Lan, as his hand warmed up, “well, that didn’t go well.”

He quickly glanced around the battle front to make sure no one was dying, and then pulled out the dust canister again.

“Let’s try this again” he thought.  
.  
.  
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Daylen sent out another round of vines which crashed into the ranks of the guards. Slowly, but surely the guardsmen were being ensnared and exhausted. They had grown more wary of the attacks after the 2nd time, however they were still taking losses each time the plants tore through their ranks and rendered some of their men immobile. Daylen was waiting for Jirall to give him the signal, at that moment he would activate the bomb’s timer and retreat to one of the airships. Once the bomb went off many lives would be lost and there would be no going back, he knew this and had made his peace. However, he found himself simply ensnaring the enemy guardsmen instead of using the lethal force that he was more than capable of. Deep down he didn’t want to hurt them, deep down he wanted to just stop here, but the words of his brother chained those thoughts in the deepest recesses of his mind where they could only influence his actions in a subconscious way. He would continue down this path, he would force himself beyond the point of no return. 

As these thoughts filled him he slowly found himself feeling less and less connected from the rest of his body, eventually he felt as if he were sitting inside a dark room watching his own actions unfold on a screen in front of him. He was slowly fading into the darkness and chaos, feeling the man he once was vanish bit by bit. 

With empty eyes, Daylen once again reached into the pouch at his side and removed three seeds. Throwing them, he was about to send another burst of aura into his staff but at that moment a small dark blue blur leapt above the battle before him.

“Finally got the hang of it!” shouted Lan who was holding a dust canister in both of his slightly blue hands. He shook the dust canisters until a small cloud of Dust formed in front of him and triggered it with his aura. Several small trails of blue energy shot forward from the dust, striking the seeds that Daylen had thrown and encasing them in ice. Daylen released a pulse of green energy towards the frozen seeds in the ground, but the seeds remained still as they sat in their icy prisons. 

With a clunk, Lan landed on top of a guardsman’s helmeted head and turned to Aurelius who was being protected by a phalanx. 

“All the guardsmen’s weaponry is currently non-lethal, correct?”

“Uh, ah, that’s right” stuttered Aurelius.

“Get off!” yelled the guard Lan was standing on.

“In that case” said Lan, bending his knees and placing both his hands into the folds of his coat. “Charge!”

Lan leapt into the air and threw two pouches at the Black Claw soldiers who were still firing away with their rifles. The two pouches exploded into two black clouds, also releasing something that made a clanging sound against the guardsmen’s shields. The guardsmen charged forward at that moment, Megan’s whip lashed through the air towards them, but was intercepted by explosives thrown by Lan. 

As the guardsmen crashed into the line of Faunus, they raised the batons and were prepared for a tough fight. But to their surprise they found the Black Claw members on the front line buckling from even the slightest nudge. They then noticed needles sticking out of any exposed areas of skin that the members had. 

“I dipped those needless in Fentanyl solution!” shouted Lan as he dashed across the tops of the Black Fang members’ heads in Daylen’s direction “It’s a drug that’s 100-150 times as strong as morphine!”

“Where did you get something like that?!” shouted one of the guards.

“Black Market” said Lan nonchalantly, as he leaped past the last line of Black Claw gunman. He leapt upwards into the air and dove towards the bomb; however Megan had already begun swinging her whip in his direction. Lan gave a sharp whistle, and a moment later a red and black blur leapt out of the crowd. The George tackled Megan’s face and blocked vision while Ignis bit down on the hand holding the whip. 

“Just you and me now Daylen” said Lan as he landed on top of the bomb “but before persuasions begin, it’s time for a good old fashioned beat down!”

Lan pulled his shock batons out of his gi and dove at Daylen, who had readied his staff and was clutching a handful of seeds.

 

I’m really looking forward to telling some of the future instances of the story, especially what happens after the end of Lan’s journeys. Right now, my favorite character is Lan’s apprentice, (who will not be showing up for a loooooong while), but I’m sure you’ll also enjoy the next three arks after this one where he joins a crew of infamous sky pirates (that has a large number of descendants of a certain violent old man), trains in the temple of Byakko’s former team member, and becomes an influential figure in Remnant’s underground.

As always, give me any suggestions you have on improving the story, and I hope you will continue to read and spread my work…and I gotta ask, do you guys think my writing is long-winded (using more words than necessary)?

P.S. for those who think that Lan acted out of character, remember that Byakko raised him and is still in the process of forming his ‘self’ in a sense.


	27. Chapter 27

Ch 27

Daylen thrust the crook of his staff upwards at Lan, who caught the weapon with the soles of his feet. As Daylen’s arm dropped thanks to the sudden addition of Lan’s weight, Lan leapt forward and struck Daylen in the chest with one of the batons. 

Daylen cried out in pain and dropped the seeds that he was holding, still managing to stay conscious thanks to his stronger than normal aura. In response, Daylen slammed the butt of his staff into the ground causing the seeds he had just dropped to sprout and launch themselves at Lan, knocking the boy into the air. Lan grunted as he was blasted upwards, but quickly recovered and pulled a small grappling hook tied to a rope from one of his pockets. Before he began to fall back down he threw the grappling hook at a rock formation in the ceiling. With a loud clang the hook embedded itself into the stone and using his remaining momentum, Lan swung himself around to avoid the vines that Daylen was sending up in his direction. 

Lan pulled out the containers of dust again and began sending more icy Dust projectiles at Daylen, however all of them were blocked by a wall of wooden vines that converge in front of him. But in that brief instance where Daylen’s vision was obscured by the vines, Lan pulled the hook out from the ceiling and threw it at one of the vines, used it as a pivot to swing himself in an arc towards Daylen’s unguarded rear and unleashed a drop kick with the full force of the momentum he had just built up in the middle of Daylen’s back. 

Daylen was knocked forwards to the ground and Lan used his trained leg muscles leap a few meters back, quickly pulling the hook back and stuffing it into one of his many hidden pockets. Daylen was back on his feet a second later.

In terms of combat experience, Daylen held the advantage thanks to his long history of street brawls growing up and the skirmishes with Grimm that occurred when he traveled from place to place, he also had excellent mastery of his semblance “sprout” which allowed him to control plant growth through the use of his modified staff ‘Grunen Daumen’. Lan however had spent his entire life training under one of the most powerful men in the world, had been thrown headfirst into a multitude of life and death situations (at least from his standpoint), and despite having not discovered his semblance had skillful control of his aura. It was truly anyone’s game; however they were far from having a fair one on one match. The guardsmen were slowly making their way through the group of Faunus, who were now engaging them with a variety of melee weaponry, and Aurelius had just finished some preparations.

“Fire, but make sure the bomb is out of the blast radius!” shouted Aurelius. Three men were kneeling one the ground in front of him, each of them holding a small-size rocket launcher. Complying with their superior’s command, they launched the weapons towards the wall of vines surrounding Daylen. 

Noticing this, Daylen shot out a column of vines at the explosives. Two of the rockets were deflected and exploded on the sides of the cavern. The last one, however, slipped through and exploded on the side of Daylen’s wall of vines. The vines managed to withstand the blast, however the shockwave that was transmitted through them caused Daylen to stumble slightly. In that instant Lan slipped through the newly opened hole in the vines and kicked Daylen in the jaw. 

His brain spinning from the blow, Daylen collapsed onto one knee, embedding his staff into the ground and using it for support as the world spun before him. Returning to the ground, Lan turned and prepared to go for the knockout, but at that moment the sound of whining filled the cavern. 

Megan had finally pried George off her face and subdued the two little guys, holding each of them by their tails. Not wasting a second, Lan leapt out of the now unmoving dome of vines and threw a rock at the bleeding hand that Ignis had bitten. As the stone struck her hand, Megan winced and loosened her group on the little guys. In that brief instant, Lan had dashed over and swept one of Megan’s legs out from under her, snatching George and Ignis out of her hands as she fell. Leaping to her feet, Megan pulled out her whip and turned on Lan, but noticed that the rocket wielding guardsmen had once again trained their weapons on Daylen, who had just barely gotten to his feet again. As the rockets fired, Megan dashed past Lan who had thrown Ignis and George into the surrounding melee after instructing them on what to do. 

Vines and whip dancing through the air, the rockets were repelled and were sent spiraling to the walls of the cavern, exploding and causing the area to shake once again. 

Turning his attention back to Daylen and Megan, Lan began to continue the fight.

“WAAAHHHHH!!!!”

A child’s cry rang out through the cavern. With that the sounds of fighting from both sides came to halt, turning in the direction of the sound. A young fox Faunus boy of about 4 or 5 years of age had wandered into the cavern and had been grazed by a stray gunshot. The boy was kneeling on the ground in front of a tunnel and clutching his arm in pain, tears streaming down his face. 

“What the?” said one of the guards.

“He must have gotten separated from one of the groups that was headed towards one of the designated safe areas.” Said one of the Black Claw.

The two opposing sides looked at each other awkwardly for a few moments before someone finally spoke up.

“W-we’d better bandage that kid’s wound” said someone.

“Y-yeah, and then send him off.” Said another.

Nobody moved to do so, since both sides were both afraid to turn their backs on their former enemies and felt awkward to the sudden change in atmosphere. 

“I have a suggestion.” Said Lan, “why don’t we send two from each side to help him get to safe face, then we can get back to kicking each other’s butts.”

“Good pla—“

‘Crack’

A cracking noise suddenly interrupted the conversation, louder than both the awkward negotiation and the child’s continuing wails. It was then that many realized that the boy was kneeling near one of the walls that had been hit by the rockets that had been deflected earlier. Unbeknownst to the two combating forces due to the sound of their own melee, cracks had slowly been spreading from the epicenter of the first blast and had spread to the ceiling encompassing a wide area, which was right above the tunnel the boy was kneeling in front of. The newest deflected rockets had accelerated the process. 

With a final loud crunch a huge chunk of stone around the size of a tank broke free and began to fall.

“””“Crap”””” cried many people in unison. Seeing that young child about to be crushed, the combatants abandoned all thoughts about the battle and rushed to help. The thoughts of battle had all but left their minds, after all, what self-respecting person would just leave a young child to their demise?

Daylen threw 3 large seeds at the area surrounding the boy and slammed the butt of his staff into the ground while the rest of the people present dashed forward. A moment before the boy was about to turn into a smear on the ground, the seeds hit the ground, met the energy from Daylen’s staff, and sprouted into three vines as thick as tree trunk, sprouting upwards into the giant stone above. The stone, however, was just too heavy and with the sound of breaking wood, the vines shattered to pieces, only managing to delay the stone a few seconds. However in that time, Lan and the fastest of the guardsmen and Black Claw had already arrived at the boy’s side. Unable to move the boy out of the way in time those few brave men and woman, were caught under the stone’s falling mass. With a grunt, they lifted their arms and tried to stop the stone, but as the enormous mass made contact with their hands, all of them fell to their knees, all except one in the center who became the core of support. 

Lan, the little iron boy, had brought his hands upwards the moment the stone had dropped down far enough. Thanks to the inhuman training his grandfather had put him through, he was able to stop the stone…is what I’d like to say but being only eight years old he was only able to slow it for a brief moment.

As he began to feel his bones break and his blood vessels rupture under the weight, he saw that many other people had arrived and had begun assisting in pushing up the stone; Daylen was also running forwards, reaching into his pouch for seeds. 

If he just stopped the stone for a few seconds, then everyone else would be able to help in time. 

“Come…on” thought Lan, who was weakening at a rapid pace, feeling the stone drop farther and farther each second. “Just a few…more…seconds!!”

At that moment, Lan’s body was covered in a brilliant blue aura and the stone’s descent stopped.

“Why must you always place thyself on the brink of death?” thought the existence which had inhabited Lan’s soul.

It was a small burst of energy, the energy that the existence had been building up for the past six months. With that Lan was able to push the boulder up slightly, but soon felt it coming back down. By then, however, dozens of hands had appeared around the stones edges and dozens vines had sprouted from in the gaps between people. 

“Up!” shouted Aurelius, whose face was red from effort “lift it up!”

The small number of people on both sides who were capable of emitting aura began to glow in unison; Daylen’s vines were also growing with a pale green light as they pushed upwards. Finally, after dozens and dozens of people and vines had taken up different positions, the stone began to rise upwards as people slowly straightened their legs and pushed it upwards. It tilted to one side as it rose until finally ‘Crash’ the stone fell to the side of the group of people, craterizing the ground. 

With a large gasp, many people collapsed to their knees, sweat running down their foreheads and, in some cases, blood coming out of their mouths. After placing his hands on his knees and panting for a few minutes, Lan straightened up and raised both his arms into the air.

“We did it! ‘coughs blood’ Whooooo!!!!”

A few weak cheers rose up from the many other people who were now lying on the ground, exhausted.

“You okay, ‘blargh’ kid?” said Lan, turning to the kid with a smile.

Had this been Lan’s usual smile, the child would probably have begun to feel at ease, however the trickle of blood that was coming down the side of Lan’s mouth and his face warped by exhaustion shocked the boy into silence. 

“Come on, cat got your tongue” said Lan, coughing once more.

“A-are you okay mister?” said the young child.

“I’m good” said Lan raising both his hands, “it’s just a few light internal injuries, I’ll be fine after a little food and rest…Those guys probably need some of that too.”

Lan motioned to the many exhausted guardsmen and Black Claw. 

“I think it’s time for a snack break.”

Lan’s mind was obviously destabilized by the extreme physical burden he had just been under. After dragging the child and the exhausted guardsmen and Black claw away from the fault zone, Lan walked over to the tunnel where he had hidden his bag, and came back carrying several large packages. He tossed them here and there towards random groups of people and then took out his own pack of rice balls. He then grabbed Aurelius by the scruff of his neck, and dragged him over to Daylen, who was leaning on his staff and breathing heavily. After making Aurelius sit down, Lan used a flurry of quick movements to force Daylen into a sitting position. He then shouted:

“Snack break, eat your food, then we can go back to killing each other.”

Many people exchanged skeptical glances with each other, but as no one was currently in any condition or mentality to fight, they opened Lan’s packages and began to eat what was inside, which varied from rice balls to sandwiches.

Lan plopped down to the ground and coughed again, the amount of blood was less than it was previously. 

He opened his packaged which revealed nine large rice balls. He took one and handed it to Aurelius who, after a moment of hesitation, grabbed and bit into it, his complexion brightening after the first bite. Lan handed the other one to Daylen, who simply stared at it with empty eyes. After a few seconds of silence, Lan said.

“As a wise, yet violent man once said ‘take it before I force the whole thing down your throat’, besides it has delicious filling~~.”

Daylen stared at it for a moment longer, then slowly reached out and took it. Satisfied, Lan grabbed another rice ball and shoved the whole thing into his mouth.

The sound of eating was the only thing that filled that cavern for a little while, until finally some people began to speak.

“So, why did you run out and help that kid?” said a Black Claw member.

“I don’t really know” said a guardsman “My body just sort of moved without me realizing it.”

Murmurs of agreement spread throughout many of the different groups that congregated around Lan’s packages, which quickly devolved into light mealtime conversation.

After looking around for a few moments, Daylen finally spoke “How easily did it all stop, with just a child’s cry the battle of principles that was being fought ended just like that.”

“It just means that in our hearts the kid’s safety was more important than that” said Lan, biting into his second rice ball and looking at the little boy who was trying to keep his sandwich away from Ignis and George. 

“Mmmm” grunted Daylen who ,after looking at it one more time, slowly bit into the large rice ball.

“So” said Lan, after polishing off his third rice ball “what do you plan on doing after you finish up in this area.”

Daylen was silent for a moment, and then said “I don’t really know, I’d continue to follow Jirall and I guess we’d use this incident to pull some more manpower into our ranks, build up a force, and fight for our rights.”

“Do you think you’ll be successful?” said Lan, taking a drink from a canteen.

Daylen was silent for a moment, and then dropped his gaze, but as he was about to open his mouth another voice rang out.

“No he doesn’t”

Lan turned his head and saw Megan walking towards them, holding the boy they’d just rescued in her arms. 

“He knows that they’ll never be able to win against the military power established by the kingdoms of Remnant. He’s just following his big brother, just like he has been his entire life.”

Megan placed the boy in Lan’s lap, then took a seat between the two of them. 

“That was all well and good when they were little kids, but now as grown-ups…it just doesn’t seem right.” She said. “A man who doesn’t live by his principles would never be able to give his best.”

Daylen was silent for a moment, and then let out a sigh.

“Maybe” he said “My brother’s always made all the big decisions ever since mother died. True, some of them didn’t really sit right with me…but thanks to those choices I was able to survive.”

“Okay” said Lan, “but you’re grown up now, and from I can see you’re a very smart guy. You should be able to see what the end of the road is if you continue on this way, you should have enough experiences to tell what results your actions will bring. So, what do you see will happen if you continue down the path you’re going on now?”

“What I can see” said Daylen, who began to stare into space “I can see a lot of red…probably blood. I can see a lot of hate, self-perpetuating itself over and over again…but I don’t see things getting any better for either side. We would never be able to win, and would only be causing more harm both to humans as well as to ourselves.”

“…You want to try something else then?” said Lan.

“Maybe” said Daylen after short pause, he turned and looked at the bomb behind him. “Don’t know what it is I want to do next though.”

“Might I suggest disarming that large and threatening bomb?” said Aurelius, “I’m sure we could think of something after that, I’ll even help you my boy.”

“But my men—“ started Daylen

“Never really supported this in the first place” said Megan calmly “It’s Jirall and his men that wanted all this, our guys were just following orders. You tell the guys sitting around that you want to stop this and you won’t be getting any complaints from them.”

“…Whatever.” Said Daylen, waiving his hand, “just leave me to think for a moment.”

The three of them nodded, and Megan turned her head and shouted.

“Krantz! Disarm the bomb!”

The man who had originally programmed the bomb nodded, and then stood up and walked over to it. 

“Whew” said Lan “Glad that’s over with, now I just need to send the kid back to his mommy and kick Jirall’s a—“

‘Bang’

Everyone whipped their heads in the direction of the sound and saw Krantz sitting in front of an open panel in the side of the bomb. A large hole had appeared in his stomach. The muzzle of some kind of gun was behind the panel that had just moved. And as the man crumpled to the ground, a recording began to play.

“You’ve really disappointed me Daylen, backing out now even though we’re so close. Luckily I predicted your little case of cold feet and prepared accordingly. Now that Krantz is dead, the only ones who can stop the bomb are me and the technician that I brought with me. The two bombs will go off as scheduled Daylen, but I’m afraid you’ll be in the list of casualties now.” The voice paused and a deep sigh could be hears “I really didn’t want to have you as an enemy brother, but I have to make sacrifices if I am to do what’s right for our people.”

With a beep, the recording ended and the cavern went silent.

“Not good” said Aurelius after a few moment, “not good, this is really not good.”

“But the objective is still the same” said Lan, “if we want to end this once and for all, we’ve got to get up there and stop Jirall. “

Lan then turned to Daylen. “Will you be helping us?”

“I-“ stuttered Daylen,

“Alright alright” said Lan waiving his hands “you stay here until you have your emotional epiphany and Megan helps you back to your feet, just keep the resulting making out to a minimum.”

“Eh!?” exclaimed Megan.

“Aurelius” shouted Lan, “you guys evacuate the Faunus workers that are the tunnels somewhere.”

“Fine.” Said Aurelius, “but after that I’m sending my men up to stop that madman. What will you be doing?”

“I’m gonna get up there and stop Jirall!” said Lan striking a heroic pose.

“You already said that” said Aurelius.

“Oh, yeah.” Said Lan, “Well, anyway, come on little buddies the final battle awaits.”

Lan dashed out the nearest tunnel with Ignis and George hot on his heels, heading towards the elevators leading to the dust purification center.

Sorry for the long wait everyone, but that’s college for you, especially with 18 class credits in advanced classes.

Whew, am I glad the ‘fight with Daylen’ is over. You know out of everything in this arc, it’s the hardest thing I had picturing. Well, Lan’s heading over to the dust reactor next to take out Jirall, I’d say this arc will be over after 4 chapters max. I’m really anticipating writing the next ones.


	28. Chapter 28

Ch 28  
‘Ding’

The elevator door opened and Lan and his two little friends poked their heads out and looked in both directions before darting out and jumping into a nearby trashcan (to us for cover of course). The inside of the Dust purification center was dimly lit, with brownish walls covered in grime. Lan and his friends were currently in a corridor with two exits on both sides. The signs of recent battle were everywhere, from the burn marks and bullet holes on the wall to the occasional blood stains here and there. Inside the trash can, Lan pulled out a map showing the massive layout of the dust purification center. 

“Jirall said something about 2 bombs” said Lan, “The only places that would be advantageous to put one are the control room, the two Dust storerooms with the raw dust and purified dust, and the Dust reactor.”

The control room was closer, so Lan decided to go there first. George grabbed onto the top of Lan’s head and Ignis dove into one of the pockets of Lan’s backpack as the boy leapt out of the trashcan. Lan dashed to one of the ends of the hallway he was in and stopped at the corner, peering around he saw a few people lying motionless on the ground. There were Black claw warriors, guardsmen, and engineers who had gotten caught up in the battle. Lan went around and checked each of them, but it was already too late. Sighing, Lan returned his attention back towards his previous objective. After dashing down a few more corridors, pocketing anything he thought might be of use, Lan arrived at the entrance to the control room. He was about to reach out and open the door, but stopped as he heard a few strained grunts inside. 

“How do you shut it off?!” yelled a gruff voice man, this was followed by the sound of an impact and an exclamation of pain.

“I don’t know!” cried someone else “Only the boss knows, he didn’t tell anyone else.”

“That’s bullshit you little ******, who would believe that the one who built the damn thing can’t turn it off?” Another impact and another exclamation of pain.

Having heard enough, Lan wrenched the door open and stepped inside. 

Inside the control room, surrounded by many panels and screens, was a group of guardsmen surrounding a grey-haired man with two large tusks coming out of his mouth, an elephant Faunus, who was tied to a chair. The man was currently in very sorry shaped. One of his tusks had been broken off and his face was swollen and bloody from the beatings he had just received. The one who was currently holding the man’s collar was a large dark-skinned man that Lan recognized to be Marcus. 

The moment he entered, the gazes of everyone else in the room landed on him, alarmed at first but then relaxed as they saw a familiar friendly face. Shifting his feet awkwardly, Lan pointed at the bloody faced man. 

“Is it really necessary to beat that guy black and blue?” said Lan.

“Of course it is!” said Marcus angrily “There’s a bomb that could blow any minute somewhere in this building, and this little **** is the only one who knows how to shut them off!”

“I told you already!” shouted the man, “I don’t know how—“

“Again you moth—“ Marcus raised his fist again, but Lan interrupted him in the middle.

“Just wait a minute and let him speak” said Lan. 

“Oh, thank you” said the technician, letting out a deep breath as a trickle of blood slid down his chin. “I may have assembled the thing, but it wasn’t me who made it. Jirall ordered the device from some outside party and many of the parts came to us pre-assembled. I just followed the instructions that came with it. Jirall is the one who handled the set-up of the bomb’s systems, and right now both the kill switch and trigger are in his hands. The bombs are also set to go off if anyone tampers with them while they’re armed.”

“What the-- why didn’t you say any of this earlier!” roared Marcus.

“I tried” whimpered the technician “but you always hit me before I got the chance to expla-a-ain.”

Marcus growled in annoyance and then motioned towards one of the guardsmen.

“Take this guy away.” 

The guard nodded then dragged the technician to one of the side rooms. 

Marcus then turned towards Lan.

“So what are you doing here kid” he asked “and where’s that insane grandfather of yours?”

Lan then began to explain everything. Relief spread throughout the room the moment people discovered the Grimm were being kept out of the walls by Byakko, but that relief quickly turned sour the moment Lan explained the existence of a second bomb. 

After Lan finished his story, Marcus collapsed into one of the nearby chairs and placed his hands over his eyes. 

“Dammit” he whispered “One was bad enough, but two? That’ll be enough to take one of the walls down, and if the Grimm get into the underground-railroad system leading to the distribution areas... Those damn terrorists and that little ******* Siemans, the both of them…”

After mumbling for a few more minutes Marcus got back up and turned his eyes on Lan. 

“I’m not going to tell you to go back kid, you’re stronger than most of the guys here after all, but I’m going to have to ask you to follow my instructions exactly.”

“Only if they’re reasonable” said Lan.

Marcus then turned to address the rest of the guardsmen in the room.

“We’ve already narrowed down the location of the bomb to three places, and have already sent some scouts to check the storerooms, they should be reporting back any minute. In the meantime, the rest of us will be heading towards the Dust reactor in the top section of the complex. Check your equipment and take care of anything else right now, we’ll be heading out in 10 minutes.”

The guards saluted and then began checking their weaponry and shields. Lan noticed that all of these guardsmen were much better armed than the ones led Aurelius, with many of them holding high quality assault rifles and other advanced military equipment.

Lan walked over, then plopped down on the ground beside Marcus. After doing so George and Ignis suddenly jumped up and landed in Marcus’s lap.

“What the—“ started Marcus, then after staring down at the two little ones, a grin appeared on his face “Well hey there you little cuties” he said, scooping the two of them up into one of his large and muscular arms and stroking them with the other “You trying to cheer this old man up? Thanks.”

After watching Marcus cuddling the little guys and chuckling, Lan asked a question that had been waiting in the back of his mind. 

“Hey Marcus, I heard that you used to be a Huntsman, a defender of justice and guardian to the people. Why did you start working for a scumbag like Siemans?”

Marcus, who had just been licked by Ignis and began to laugh, started and then turned solemn. With a sigh, he placed both Ignis and George on the ground and turned towards Lan.

“Well, let’s just say that I did a few things that I’m not proud of back when I was on active duty.” He said “Siemans found out about it thanks to some of his underground connections, after which he blackmailed me into being his personal bodyguard. Wouldn’t of really cared if I was the only one being affected…but I couldn’t let my wife and son live knowing that papa got shipped off to the slammer…well just goes to show that every mistake you make can and will be used against you.”

“But you got to have gotten sick of the things he did right?” said Lan.

“How could I not?” said Marcus, “Guys a certified scumbag, but as long as he’s got that dirt on me stored in that computer of his, I’ve got my metaphorical hands tied…anyway now’s not the time to talk about these things, we got to focus on Jirall right now or a lot of good people will die.”

“Yeah” said Lan, who then reached into his bag and pulled out a chocolate bar. “You know Marcus, you’re an okay guy.” Lan then held out the bar to the man “Friendship token.”

Marcus looked at the chocolate bar for a moment then chuckled slightly.

“You’re okay too kid” he said reaching his hand out and taking it “Too bad your gramps is as crazy as a moth—“

At that moment two groups of guards burst through the door to the security room. Most of them appeared exhausted, injured, or both. 

“We’ve got Black Claw coming” shouted one of the guards “Our groups were intercepted on the way back from checking the storerooms, they were empty.”

Marcus was already on his feet and a large mace with had appeared in his hands. 

“Everybody get ready!” shouted Marcus “We’re making a beeline to the dust reactor room!”

He then reached into a pouch at his back, pulled out a white mask shaped like a skull, and placed it on his face. Afterwards he grabbed a large and thick, orange and brown shield that had been lying on the ground. 

“How soon till they arrive?” he asked.

“Any minute sir” said one of the guardsmen. 

“Are you ******** still not ready yet!?” shouted Marcus.

“We are ready sir!” shouted the rest of the guardsmen in the room.

“Then march!” shouted Marcus. 

He and the guardsmen then burst out of the control room, Lan and his little friends fast on their heels. Within a few moments they came in contact with the Black Claw troops that the scouts had reported. They were both better armed and better trained than the men that Daylen had and the result…they were completely annihilated. 

Marcus truly lived up to his name as an ex-huntsman. Lan watched wide eyes as Marcus swung his mace, the mace-head detaching and rocketing forward. The mace head, connected to the shaft that Marcus was holding with a rope made of some kind of alloy, crashed into the group of Black Claw, shattering their armor and sending them flying before they even had a chance to raise their weapons. Then before the ones in the back had a chance to get organized, Marcus had already reeled back the top of his mace and charged into the group with his shield. His orange aura flared as dozens of Black Fang troops were sent flying, pushing his way completely past the group. The Black Claw members behind him who were left groaning on the ground were quickly restrained by the guardsmen who were following the man. Within a few minutes they were completely restrained, and a few guards were left behind to watch after them. 

On their way to the dust reactor, the group ran into a few more groups of Black Fang, but none of them were able to get in more than a few shots before they were sent flying by Marcus’s mace. After a while they arrived in front of a large iron door. One of the guardsmen walked over and placed a keycard into a panel by the door, but from the beeping and red lights that came afterwards everyone could tell that it didn’t work.

“They hacked the system boss” said the guard “What do we do no—“

With a loud clang, Marcus slammed the bottom edge of his shield onto the ground. Anchoring apparatuses then shot out from the bottom of the shield, piercing into the ground and giving it support. Marcus then shoved the tip of his mace into an indentation at the back of his shield. With a loud clang, the front of his shield opened up, revealing 6 barrels in the shape of a honeycomb. 

“Out of the way” he grunted, and the guard ran behind him as fast as he could. Marcus then pulled the trigger on the haft of his mace. With an earsplitting bang, six large orange projectiles erupted from the shield and crashed into the iron door. The door was blasted apart, turning into large chunks of metal shrapnel that shot into the room. The guardsmen immediately ran in and assumed an offensive formation with their shields and rifles forwards. The reactor room was a huge area which was mostly taken up by the enormous reactor to the left of where the guardsman had entered. The reactor was still active at that time and was in the process of refining many metric tons of Dust.

There were a few windows in the room, and through the gray light that was seeping through many could tell that morning had already arrived. At that moment a cold voice suddenly rang out from the surrounding ceiling speakers.

“Hello humans” said the voice “Welcome to the end of your road.”

The group of guardsmen was then illuminated with large bright lights coming from the right side of the room. Turning their heads towards the source of illumination, they saw light pouring out of the large glass window of the reactor’s operating room. The room jutted out of the side of the wall and overlooked the entire room. There were two staircases on both sides that lead up to it.

Slowly a black shadow appeared and covered the group of guardsmen. After their eyes finished adjusting to the sudden brightness, the guardsmen saw that the man was Jirall. Behind Jirall was a group of Elite Black Claw soldiers and a group of engineers were currently kneeling on the ground with their arms behind their heads. 

The guardsmen trained their weapons on Jirall.

“Don’t move” said Jirall, his men quickly trained their weapons on the kneeling engineers. 

Marcus clicked his tongue and ordered his men to stand down. 

Smiling, Jirall pulled out a small switch and pressed a button. 

A loud beep filled the room and he guardsmen turned their head in the direction of the noise. Sitting on top of the reactor was a bomb similar to the one that was located in the caverns down below. 

“System armed” said a mechanical female voice. 

“You!” Marcus’s face had flush red with anger “Do you realize what you’re doing boy?”

“I’m bringing change” said Jirall “I’m ending the stagnation on the treatment of my brothers and sisters. This will show you humans that we aren’t a race that can be pushed around and treated like cattle.” He paused for a moment and clenched his fist “After this, many with similar feelings will flock to us. We will form a new force in this world and punish you ******** that refused to let us live our lives.”

Jirall waved his hands and the majority of the Black Claw in the room went out the doors to the sides of the room and onto the stairs, training their weapons on the guardsmen. 

“Be thankful” said Jirall “You humans will become an example of those who would dare oppress u—“

‘Crash’

The top of the operating room burst open and the room was filled with black smoke. There were many grunts of pain along with a flurry of movement. A few moments later, the bottom of the operating room blew open and a large object fell to the ground below. The moment it was about to hit, two capsules exploded beneath it and covered the object in a kind of white foam, breaking its fall. The object that had fallen to the ground was all of the engineers, tied up with a few lengths of rope, and the white foam appeared to be capsules used by the mining operations anti-fire system. A dark figure dropped down behind the engineers and called out to Marcus. It was Lan.

When Marcus had first blown open the door, Lan had charged forwards using the smoke as cover and used one of his grappling hooks to pull himself onto part of the pipe system on the ceiling. He had then pulled on a pair of suction cup gloves and slowly made his way over to the operating room as soon as he knew the situation.

“Cover me!” Lan cried.

He then tilted the mass of engineers on its side and, with great protest from those tied up, began to role it in the direction of Marcus and the rest. 

“Gah” “Ouch” “My spleen!” were among a few of the complaints that came out every few feet the mass was rolled. 

The few moments after Lan began to roll the engineers over, the Black Claw members began opening fire on both Lan and the guardsmen. Luckily the guardsmen already had their shields up and Marcus and a few of his best men had already gone to Lan’s side and were covering him and the engineers. Soon, the engineers were rolled over to guards, cut loose, and sent out of the room towards the elevators. Now that the hostages were safe, the guardsmen then began to focus their full efforts on the fight with the Black Claw. Part of the groups continued the fire fights, while another portion of the two opposing forces began to clash in a violent melee. Here and there people were going down, some groaning due to injuries, and some to never rise again. 

Standing in the middle of the battle, unhindered by the melee and gunfire, stood Lan and Marcus facing Jirall, who had already come down.

“Had a feeling it would come down to this” said Jirall, pulling a pair of green metallic claws onto both of his hands.

“Not too late to talk peace” said Lan.

“Enough talk” said Jirall.

Moving so fast that he vanished from Lan’s sight, Jirall dashed forward and drove his claws towards the young boy’s face. 

‘Clang’

The edge of Marcus’ shield caught Jirall’s claws, and with a pulse of orange light blasted Jirall back. Jirall did a somersault in the air then landed back on his feet a few meters away. 

“You won’t be getten past my shield” shouted Marcus. Lan remembered from files that he had read was that Marcus’s semblance was Rebound and allowed him to bounce back a portion of his enemy’s attack along with a little bit of his own energy, provided he could take the attack in the first place. It had two fatal weaknesses however, one of which was that if the opponent’s power outclassed his by far he would be blow back instead, which was why he never stood a chance against Byakko. 

Jirall stared at Marcus for a moment then said, “I know”. His eyes then flashed with an amber light and he disappeared once again. 

His senses tingling, Marcus tried to turn his shield behind himself. But too late, with a flash of green light Jirall slashed Marcus across the back and threw a kick which knocked the man forward. You see the second weakness of Rebound was that it could only bounce back attacks taken from the front, so if someone was able to get behind him fast enough, he would have to rely on his aura to take the hit. 

Unluckily for Marcus, not only was a Jirall a warrior fast enough to do so, Jirall’s was also able to immediately see through Marcus’s weak point, thanks to his semblance Predator which allowed him to pinpoint any weak points that he himself could take advantage of. 

With a flurry of kicks and slashes, Jirall attacked Marcus, forcing the man on the defensive. To minimize the damage he took, Marcus placed his shield on his back, but his aura was still being worn away little by little. Jirall was simply too fast for Marcus to handle, it was a very bad match up of abilities.

Lan tried to find an opening to help, but in a duel between two warriors at the level of professional hunters, what could a young boy who had yet to discover his semblance do?

The rest of the battle wasn’t going too well either. The guardsmen were being pushed back by the Black Claw troops. The two forces had similar equipment and numbers, but had very different levels of combat experience. The guardsmen had received excellent military training but hadn’t seen too many serious battles, while the members of the Black Claw had participated in many covert battles both with other people and Grimm. 

One of the guardsmen near the entrance to his room had his shield knocked out of his hands by a combination of gunfire and the martial skill of a Black Claw elite he was facing. He fell to the ground and looked fearfully at the black uniformed Faunus who was bringing a knife down towards his face. 

‘Whap’

A wooden vine darted out from behind the guardsmen and struck the Black Claw troop in the chest, denting his armor and sending him flying. At the same time a barrage of gunfire came pouring out of the doorway, forcing the Black Claw onto the defensive. 

The attention of everyone in the room turned towards the doorway. Out of it came Daylen, his troops, and the armed Faunus workers.

“Brother, this has to stop now.” Said Daylen.

“Gotta clean up the mess that we started” said Milton, cocking his gun.


End file.
